A giant-sized avocado pear, weighing two-and-a-half pounds has gone on sale in Tesco this week. Grown by Westfalia in South Africa and imported into the UK by Worldwide Fruit, the avocados are more than eight times bigger than normal.

Tesco spokesperson David Collins said: "Few people will have seen a pear as big as this. It's the size of a watermelon... It has a fantastic taste with a rich, juicy creamy flavour and a light green appealing colour. Pound for pound it will cost approximately a third of the price of the equivalent number of normal-sized avocado."

The giant fruit are all descended from one ancient tree discovered in the town of Devil's Cliff in South Africa's Northern Province during the time of the Dutch settlers and are so big that they are difficult to fit into the hand. On average the pears are almost nine inches long with a 14-inch circumference. Collins added: "You won't be able to get more than three into a normal-sized shopping bag.

"We're putting our store staff on alert to help customers carry the pears into their cars. Three avocados will weigh almost eight pounds.

"We're always looking for new varieties of fruit and veg to bring to our customers. This pear is bound to give thousands of people bags of fun."