There are already shades of autumn in store and I note that the first banners are up proclaiming Halloween - still seven weeks away - while sprouts are arriving labelled “new crop”.

I wonder how many shoppers buy fresh leaf spinach and then see their purchase shrink to the size of a single portion when it is cooked. If ever there was a vegetable that has benefited from the arrival of larger packs - mainly as a strategy of introducing value lines - it has to be that which Popeye made famous. Tesco is offering a 450g monster bag at £1.77 under its Super Foods range.

Like many green vegetables, spinach is no longer associated with seasonality. This reason alone has contributed towards the success of trademarked Tenderstem broccoli. However, I wonder if there is a challenger coming over the horizon. Under its Taste the Difference range, Sainsbury’s is stocking Bellaverde, which if my Italian isn’t too rusty translates as ‘beautiful green’. In this case, it is grown in Lincolnshire, with 200g priced at £1.79.

It’s always worth a look at organics now the sector is established and mature. I was interested in the message on a potato pre-pack in Sainsbury’s, a variety called Lady Balfour, priced at £1.65 for 2.5kg. Provided by Nick Taylor in Shropshire, it is heralded as “the first to be bred for the organic consumer”, which is quite a claim.

At the other end of the organic scale, one of the more unusual products to turn up in a new format is coconut, with a 100g pack of fragments selling in Waitrose for 99p. I have always wondered who buys coconuts, which are more associated with prizes at the local fair and agricultural shows. Perhaps this convenient presentation will catch on more widely.

Cartoon characters have been helping promote fresh produce for some time and the best known is Mickey Mouse, who is the star turn in Tesco at present on a range of apple, pear, easy peeler and banana packs. These are designed to appeal to children and are linked to a coupon collection scheme for Disney DVDs. On offer at “Any 2 for £1.50”, you get seven conventionally grown fun-sized bananas from the Ivory Coast, although only six organic fruits are in a pack from the Dominican Republic that costs £1.29. South Africa is the source for the rest of the range, comprising packs of nine Cripps Pink apples and Packham pears, and 600g of clementines.

Closer to home, there at least seem to be more English plums on sale, following the recent outcry over the lack of enthusiasm of some multiples. Marks & Spencer has 500g of Victoria plums for £1.99, although there are also more limited quantities of a new Israeli variety called Green Red available in its Perfectly Ripe range at the same price, thanks to a 50p-off saving. The fruit has exactly the same hue as its name suggests, and being slightly elongated might even be mistaken for a fig, if sold loose. These form part of a new range selected to provide “fantastic new colours, flavours and textures”.

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