The British Tenderstem season has kicked off with the first volumes hitting retail shelves this week and plantings up 10 per cent on last year.
Grown commercially by seven growers in the UK, the Tenderstem season was initially delayed by a cold, wet spring, but has now caught up due to recent warm temperatures. The season began with the first harvest in the Channel Islands at the end of May, and is now picking up across the country. Grown under protective fleece, the earliest-planted crops were sown last autumn and transplanted at the end of February and early March.
Stuart Cox, managing director of Tenderstem breeder and seed supplier Sakata UK, said: “Demand for Tenderstem has been increasing steadily in recent years. UK growers have seen real success with this popular brassica and have been keen to add it to their rotation of crops.”
Brand manager Coregeo’s chief marketing officer, Michelle Toft, said she expects a strong summer for Tenderstem sales. “Both the quality and continuity of the UK crop this year look set to be good. We’re anticipating that the harvest will take us right the way through to early November with consistent availability and great quality,” she said.
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