The citrus game especially caught my attention this week, offering consumers a taste of sunshine in the depths of winter. Leading the pack, Asda has come up with a new variety - Brownie orange - heralded as sweeter than any other, at £1.80 for a net of four. Closer inspection indicates that it is grown in Spain and that purchasers can email their opinion to variety@iplasda.co.uk. The outer appearance of the oranges is certainly bronze in comparison to the rest of the shelf, although the flesh still has the traditional hue. Also, Marks & Spencer’s Our Latest Discovery range is offering clementines from Italy, which are hand selected and left on the tree until “perfectly sweet”. The easy peelers are on sale at £2.99 for four.

After years of struggling to get cherries on the shelf year round, the fruit is now almost an everyday item at bargain prices. However, M&S is still sticking to its guns with what are described as specially selected “Kings”. These cherries are the biggest, sweetest and juiciest around and the ticket rightly remains at £6.99 for 400g. Meanwhile, The Co-operative has boldly labelled Chilean Bings at £2 per 200g, which is half the usual price, and Tesco is offering bagged cherries, reduced from £6.81 down to £3.40/500g.

However, sometimes things may not always be what they seem. The numerous tomato varieties are already confusing, and this was evident at Tesco with its Perino. On the vine at £1.75 for a minimum of eight fruit, the variety from Spain is also identified on the pack as Dunne, while on the checkout the receipt comes up as being Marzinino. Similarly, the humble cabbage is now available in various shapes, colours and sizes. Prepared lines are now mixing varieties, like Sainsbury’s medley at £1/60g, which contains Savoy and red cabbage, as well as spring greens.

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