Spring is in the air at Sainsbury’s and, while the majority of the country has been freezing, grow-your-own kits are already on display in the produce section. To attract the amateur gardener, there are tomatoes, even strawberries, as well as herbs and peppers.
Sticking with vegetables, more and more retailers are stretching the boundaries when it comes to colours. Red sprouts on the stalk made an appearance for Christmas, and are still available.
Morrisons is taking the same route with kale, adding British red and black to the range, sold loose at £1.10 and £1 a bunch respectively, alongside green, also at £1.
Even radishes have got in on the act, with a long thin white variety called, appropriately at this time of the year, Icicle. They come from Holland and are priced at £1.99 a bunch.
Summer might be a long way off but there is plenty of activity to drive sales of berries and stonefruit. As ever it’s all about pack size, price or exclusivity. Although, in the case of Asda and its strawberries, a half-pound punnet has been introduced following the launch of the full UK measure - also ticketed in metric.
Currently, Budgens has Spanish fruit labelled at half price - £2.49 for 400g - while M&S has a trademarked Sunbliss 300g pack at £2.99. The description claims that “only the best” make it into the range of packaging used.
Blueberries have tended to be sold in smaller portions, but M&S also has 400g of Blue Crisp, sourced from South Africa at £3.99, and a new plum arrival in its Speciality range.
Apricots still represent a crop where there are cracks in the annual calendar at this time of year. Tesco has Sundrop at £2 for six, sourced from distant New Zealand.
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