Sales of pears are up 38 per cent at Waitrose following their starring role on last week’s Great British Bake Off (GBBO).
Contestants on the nation’s favourite baking programme were tasked with wrapping poached pears in spirals of rough puff pastry.
Following the show, amateur cooks up and down the country seem to have been going poaching potty, with overall pear sales up 25 per cent week-on-week at Waitrose, and loose pears up 38 per cent.
The sales boost comes as the retailer announced that it’s stocking the first of the English pear harvest three weeks earlier than last year.
From next week, shoppers will be able to enjoy the first of the English Conference pear crop. This will then be followed in early October by a new ‘Best of British Pears’ four pack, featuring an ever-changing selection of seasonal English pear varieties starting with Concorde, similar to the Best of British apple pack.
Pear grower David Long grows his pears in rural Kent, supplying Waitrose with almost 3,000 tonnes of pears. Waitrose has been working with a core selection of English pear growers for over 25 years, offering customers the very best of home-grown produce.
Greg Sehringer, Waitrose pear buyer, said: “English pears are a real autumnal treat so we’re lucky to be able to enjoy these earlier than usual. It’s a word generally associated with wine, but thanks to the recent weather this is a real ‘vintage’ crop – whether you’re poaching them and wrapping in pastry or enjoying straight from the fruit bowl, now’s the time to tuck into the juiciest of English pears.”
