There’s no denying that cherries still hold pride of place when it comes to impulse buying, although that has not deterred many multiples from offering bargain prices to run alongside TV campaigns.

Imports are still highly visible as the English season gets into full swing. Tesco is offering Spanish Bings in a brightly printed card punnet at half price. The pack was £3.40, or £5.99/kg.

That brings me to the issue of size, where the biggest and boldest have the most appeal. On that front, Marks & Spencer is labelling its Turkish fruit - again labelled as half price at £3.99/550g - with the message that it only selects the “Biggest, Sweetest and Juiciest” fruit. While the variety stands up to this scrutiny, it is must still be in the development stage as it is only identified as C-27.

It is also a time when everyone is trying to create a point of difference. M&S’s mixed pack of yellow and red English raspberries is a case in point with Driscoll’s Maravilla and Estrella offered at £2.99 for 150g.

However, the makeover given to a pinkish gooseberry (£1.99 for 200g) really catches the eye. While the variety grown by Charles Gaskain is called Pax, it has been renamed as faeberry with the description that it is much sweeter than culinary types.

Staying in the fruit sector, for the last few weeks I have been plotting the course of the various arrivals at Tesco under its Limited Edition range with interest. It’s the unusual variety names which first caught my eye, but something extra is a new yellow-skinned nectarine at £1.99 for five. It is called Maria Dorata and is grown in Spain.

Summer sunshine is giving all these lines a lift, and probably putting top fruit under more pressure than usual. Mixed apple packs have only ever seemed to be on the edge of sales, although Asda has produced a combination of South African Braeburn and Gala at £1.50.

And while consumer preference must be for the endless selection of prepared salads; young bunched carrots have also been given a lift at Tesco with the trademark branded Bushy Tops at £1.50. Provided by Alan Bartlett & Sons, the bag points out that the vegetables are “packed in the field”.

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