At the Tesco Christmas preview last week it was clear the team had not been skimping on innovation throughout the range. There was plenty of newness on show in all categories and by launching some SKUs in October it will give people plenty of time to try the full spectrum.

As the public gets into the Christmas spirit earlier and earlier Tesco will be hoping that customers start hosting dinner parties/buffet events with a festive twist much earlier than December leaving the main centrepieces for the big day and New Year with their launch only a couple of weeks ahead via the Festive Food lines.

On the ‘hosting’ table the more usual beige buffet had pops of colour across it especially a bright red char siu duck bao bun. And the do-it-yourself assembly charcuter-tree will leave no carnivore unsated. As Brits become more knowledgeable about the different types of olive – beyond black or green – both Manzanilla and Kalamata olives are included here.

Some key themes seem to be common to most of the major players this year and the flavour of maple syrup is one of those. Expect to find it in Tesco’s maple bacon sausage roll tear-and-share wreath and the vegetarian whole burrata with maple glaze and pistachios.

Hot honey is also in the mix and appears on the smoked salmon and Mediterranean-inspired pastries with feta, harissa and apricot as well as the Chef’s Collection feta, spinach and celeriac spanakopita. Baking cheeses are set to be big across the board as well and Tesco puts in a nice foraging twist with a British Winslade soft cheese served with a damson compote.

But UK traditions are still here – pigs in blankets come with a gravy mayo dipper. And the leftovers staple of turkey curry has been reimagined as a ready done pie for Boxing Day. Christmas past is always popular but the team say they have tried to put twists and mergers of old and new wherever possible. At Christmas time, unsurprisingly, sales of the Finest range increase as customers trade-up for the big festival of the year and this is where the major development changes appear.

In addition, the more ground-breaking change is often back-of-house in terms of cooking techniques with the end-customer not aware of the innovation that has gone into producing the final product. That’s where we push the boundaries, one Tesco staff member told Retail Insider. An example would be the slow-cooked turkey crown centrepiece, which has been pre-cooked in a buttermilk brine via sous vide leaving the consumer to just warm up and glaze the crown. Crucially there are instructions on all such products, which the customer accesses via a QR code. It is perfect, the company says, for a non-confident cook as it is very difficult to overcook this meat.

Many of the vegetarian dishes are dramatic-looking creations such as the layered root vegetable pithivier, reflecting the fact that for hosts with vegetarian or vegan guests there is no need either to necessarily fall back on the ubiquitous nut roast option or to suddenly learn time-consuming recipes to ensure guests get more than a plateful of steamed veg and gravy on their plates.

On desserts the team admitted that they were stretching the format to its utmost but customers can now buy a Sticky toffee pannettone Christmas pudding – three classics for the price of one is the strapline. Completely new to the range is the salted banoffee cascading star for the lighter pudding. The product developers are keen to reinvent the frozen dessert category and to get away from the standard strawberry gateaux model, which currently dominates. They feel it represents a good value option and also a convenient one which could and should have a much bigger market share.

Christina Davis, chief taster, Retail Insider