Super-sized spuds have hit the shelves in 120 Tesco stores across the UK this week.
The giant sweet potatoes - aptly named Spudzillas - are more than five times the size of normal potatoes, weighing in at an incredible 1.5kg each.
Demand for sweet potatoes has soared by 18 per cent in the last year, swelling the UK market to £28 million a year.
Tesco exotic vegetable buyer Jonathan Corbett said: “These whoppers are so big that everyone who sees them does a double take.
“One Spudzilla is enough to feed a family of four, but the beauty of them is they are so easy to peal because of the huge surface area.
“We reckon they’ll be very popular as sweet potatoes are perhaps the greatest success story in the entire vegetable category in recent times, thanks to their versatility.
“Until a few years ago, sweet potatoes were generally the preserve of foodies and mainly sold well in areas that had large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations. Now the sweet potato has become the trendiest vegetable in Britain, and is well on its way to becoming mainstream, joining the likes of other root vegetables like parsnips, turnips, and swedes as a regular item on our dinner plates.”
Sweet potatoes are grown commercially in the US, South America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and Spain.
Corbett added: “Suppliers have never sent these super-sized spuds to Britain before because there hasn’t been a market for them. Now, with sweet potatoes suddenly becoming so popular more and more grocers are selling them.”
No comments yet