When on the look-out for new lines, I am indebted to those retailers that are now hanging out shelf barkers to proclaim the fact, which makes the job and shopping a lot easier when walking the aisles.

Asda is proclaiming a new Fresh Tastes salad range of some dozen or so lines that includes a French-style salad for £1.50/75g and something a little more exotic - a wild rocket with Parmesan and a vinaigrette dressing for £1.30/200g.

Carry home packs for potatoes are now part of most supermarkets’ stock-in-trade, but now it seems onions are following suit. With the southern hemisphere still enjoying a seasonal slot, the contents of a 4kg net in the same store are coming from New Zealand at £1.67.

A greater sense of crop identity is now part of produce marketing, and has even enhanced the humble cabbage. Savoy, pointed, kale and Primo have all had their own space for some time, but now Tesco is also offering a compact flattened white variety grown in the UK, labelled as “Japanese style” for 98p. Obviously oriental by intent, it is not surprising it is on sale near the stir fry section.

Similarly, broad, runner, bobby, French and many more types of bean are also identified, although in its Just Discovered range the arrival of British Tender Beans at £1.50 for 150g - which look like runners - doesn’t tell the customer much.

Staying with veg, Marks & Spencer is still expanding its range of fresh peas, following on from the Tenderini packs reported last week, and now has exclusive Simply Sweet petit pois grown in Kent at £1.99 for 400g.

With the first English stonefruit arriving in the shape of Opal plums, The Co-operative is proudly flying the Union Jack on home-grown apricots at £2 for 320g, reflecting that the trials reported not so long ago have now become commercial. Fruit is also grown on its own farms in Kent.

And just to be different, while our national cherry crop has been hitting the headlines, it is also stocking Bing harvested in Belgium, this week reduced to price half price at £2 for 400g.

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