Summer washout brings larger pumpkins

Britain’s unpredictable summer weather has led to larger pumpkins for Halloween this year, according to Tesco. 

The supermarket said it expects to see strong consumer demand, with this season’s crop going on sale this week.

Pumpkin buyer Lucy Moss said: “The good news for Halloween fans coming from our main pumpkin growers is that the fruit will be larger than normal in all size variations this year as a result of very good growing conditions across the summer months.

“This year we have six different sizes and based on last year’s demand, the carving variety is still the most popular. Each of the six different size categories will be larger than usual this year so fans will get value for money.

“The good news, from a food waste point of view, is that there has been an increase in customers searching for recipes for their delicious versatile pumpkin flesh on our Tesco Real Food website.”

Tesco’s range this year includes standard-sized carving pumpkins, culinary, munchkin, large, giant, and novelty - which includes devil (red) and ghost (white) varieties.

Oakley Farms, based near Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, is one of Europe’s biggest pumpkin suppliers, growing around five million each year. The farm’s commercial manager Steve Whitworth said: “We had a pretty good growing season for pumpkins this summer, with a really hot June which really helped the plants along.

“The rainy July and August may not have been great for sun lovers or BBQ fans but from a growing point of view for pumpkins it was perfect.

“The weather gave us the right amount of rain with sunny intervals, especially compared with the challenging conditions we encountered during last year’s heatwave, which was officially the hottest UK year on record.”