Sales of thyme have spiralled to lift it into sixth place in the herb best-sellers list, new figures from The Fresh Herb Company have shown.
The top five best selling fresh herbs are coriander, basil, flat-leaf parsley, curly parsley and mint for the 12 months to the end of March. Thyme experienced the biggest sales increase of all to become the sixth biggest-selling herb with a 20.3 per cent increase. Dill and lemon grass have also seen sales spikes of 10.6 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively.
The UK retail fresh herbs market is now worth £96.4m and sales have risen across the board.
James Seymour from The Fresh Herb Company, the UK’s largest producer of fresh herbs for the UK retail market, said: “Fresh herbs are viewed by many as a luxury ingredient for special occasion meals. There has been a revived interest in home cooking and home entertaining, which we believe has led to the spike in sales for cut herbs which people use for one-off recipes. Living herbs in pots can offer better value and can continue to flourish at home providing an ongoing supply of fresh herbs.
"We believe consumers currently lack inspiration when it comes to cooking with fresh herbs and our 5 Ways with Fresh Living Herbs campaign aims to help change that. By showing people that fresh herbs are a healthy, easy and convenient way to liven up mid week meals, we hope to be able to demonstrate the value that having living herbs in the home can offer.”
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