Basil Wars Part II: Lidl vs. Superquinn
February 8, 2009
Though attentions have been turning towards the new season, a rare snowfall in Ireland gives me chance to check in on some indoor growing, in particular the two basil plants from Superquinn and Lidl I have been pitting against each other.
It’s now just over ten days since the basil plants were purchased. I’ve been harvesting them both equally in an effort to maintain an even playing field. I’ve also made every effort to give them the exact same light, temperature, compost, pot and watering.
Lidl (right in picture): €1.69
Mid to large sized leaves: 34
Price per leaf: €0.05
Bonus marks for: leaves generally are healthy, evenly coloured and not withered
Superquinn (left in picture): €2.99
Mid to large sized leaves: 20
Price per leaf: €0.15
Bonus marks for: plenty of stalks that are self-supporting and not droopy
I was going to compare the two plants in terms of calories per euro but I discovered that basil doesn’t actually have any calories rendering such a comparison a bit of a pointless exercise.
It looks like the Lidl basil has edged it so far with 34 medium to large sized leaves. The Superquinn basil with a measly 20 leaves so it has a lot of catching up to do. The Lidl plant might have an unfair advantage as I suspect that it is in fact more than one plant underneath it all. I’ll check back in a while to get an update on the competition but knowing my history with basil, the winner of this particular battle will be the one which dies second.
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Hang on a sec, you set your criteria at the start, calories, so it’s a draw. You can’t shift the goalposts!!
Basil, dried, ground
2.00 tsp
3.00 grams
7.52 calories
Nutrient Amount DV
(%) Nutrient
Density World’s Healthiest
Foods Rating
vitamin K 48.01 mcg 60.0 143.6 excellent
iron 1.28 mg 7.1 17.0 very good
calcium 63.40 mg 6.3 15.2 very good
vitamin A 281.24 IU 5.6 13.5 very good
dietary fiber 1.20 g 4.8 11.5 good
manganese 0.08 mg 4.0 9.6 good
magnesium 12.68 mg 3.2 7.6 good
vitamin C 1.84 mg 3.1 7.3 good
potassium 103.00 mg 2.9 7.0 good
World’s Healthiest
Foods Rating Rule
excellent DV>=75% OR Density>=7.6 AND DV>=10%
very good DV>=50% OR Density>=3.4 AND DV>=5%
good DV>=25% OR Density>=1.5 AND DV>=2.
Well done on this most necessary experiment. Now Lidl basil may have had more leaves per pot but the real question is which leaves had the most FLAVOUR?
@patrick Thanks for the info! Seems like it’s a fairly nutritious food after all. If only I had a bigger volume!
@Jack A taste experiment. I like the way you think. Consider it a work in progress.