There is nothing like a little mystery, and this week it concerns apricots in Marks & Spencer. This fruit is becoming more popular in the UK in general judging by the space it is taking up on the shelves.

The Ripe & Ready to Eat pre-packs of French fruit in question - priced at £2.49 - proudly bear an “Only available” label and the variety is clearly still in the development stage as it is only identified as N23.81. It all points to the category increasing and the season getting longer in the years ahead.

Talking about identities, it is fairly certain that most supermarket customers in my part of the Home Counties associate strawberries with Kent. But this week Tesco was flying the Scottish flag on its Finest range.

Apart from the 227g punnet at £1.99 being premium priced compared with berries from south of the border, there were two other points of interest. First, the variety was Ava, which if memory serves me right was bred in Israel, and second, the 12 neatly packed fruits all retained their calyx as a sign of freshness.

While concentrating on fruit, the same store had what must be some of the largest papaya I have ever seen on offer in UK supermarkets at £3.32. It might seem expensive, but the Formosa variety from Brazil weighs in at just under 3lbs each.

Waitrose was selling giant Hass avocados last season so maybe we are seeing a new retail strategy evolving where big is beautiful. If this proves to be the case, there will have to be some rethinking on the portion information provided by the 5-a-day campaign.

I was also interested to see in Sainsbury’s that the humble pear is being given a lift with recipe leaflets on Conference pre-packs priced at £1.99. It is a reminder that the English season is not far off, although the current source of supply is Spain.

It’s also a time of year when buyers’ minds start to turn towards winter citrus even though there seems to be plenty of South African fruit still about.

But Asda has branched out sourcing pre-packs of Minneolas from Peru (£1.48 kg). I wonder how many customers noticed what is still a little known source even amongst trade circles?

On the vegetable front microwaveable bags seem to be the in thing. Most I have found so far are used for single product lines, but Asda has launched a single portion mixed veg pack for 49p.

Getting veg to look attractive is usually more difficult than it is with fruit and the result can be a real turn off if consumers are not already familiar with the product. Squashes are a case in point.

But Tesco has solved the problem with butternut grown in Egypt; selling halves for 99p. Pre-packed against a black background, the orange flesh stands out like a beacon.

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