I am always delighted when the Jersey season kicks off. Tesco’s 500g pack, priced at £2.49, bears a smart gold and purple design, and includes the message “genuine new potatoes” on the label, along with the EU symbol which categorises this unique product as having protected designation of origin status. If I have any criticism, it is that the package is a bit small for customers to recognise.

The pack, as is frequent nowadays, also carries a picture of grower Barrie Hamel of St Clements. However, those with sharp eyes will have noted that Sainsbury’s has taken identification even further. Jersey Royals sold under its Taste the Difference brand (£3.49 a kilo), and also described as “genuine”, not only introduce Graham Le Marquand as the grower, but even go so far as to identify the the picker - Vasco Rodrigues - by name.

Colour also counts for a lot at this time of year. With the English asparagus season well underway after one of the earliest starts on record, Marks and Spencer has come up with a purple pre-pack of asparagus tips (£2.29 for 100g) grown by the Chinn family.

While not exactly new in type, it is exclusive, and maybe the next step towards what I have suggested in the past, which is that the time is not far off when varieties themselves will be named.

Staying on the colour chart, one of the most eye-catching labels also comes from M&S, heralding the arrival of pink tomatoes, priced at £1.69 for two and ideal for slicing.

It is a far cry from when colours (including pinks) were used to define grades. These fruits, runs the sales message, have been specially selected and “grown for their velvety texture and delicate perfumed supersweet taste”. And what’s more, they’re British.

When it comes to colour, however, there are few products which shine out as brightly as peppers. While the bell type are still the most prolific, more and more sizes and shapes are coming forward, including what is described by M&S as a “new and exciting brand of cherry pepper”, from Holland.

The pre-pack, at £1.99 contains a special un-sized red, orange and yellow selection comprising Soletto and Tinkerbelle, claimed to be the best out of hundreds of varieties.

It is also the time of year when the southern-hemisphere top-fruit crop is making inroads, with New Zealand Cox competing with the last product from English stores. Waitrose, which was carrying out tastings this week on Pink Lady and Braeburn, was also carrying the clone description Marired. With this in mind, the possibilities to identify apples even more accurately are endless.

It was, however, pears that caught my attention. While the vast majority of pre-packs are square, four organic Argentine D’Anjous from Sainsbury’s arrived in a three-sided presentation pack, in which the fruit fits very well.There must be a knack in packing the outers, in the same way that Spanish tomato boats used to arrive in wood, wool and paper and were presented in a lidded wooden chip like a truncated triangle.

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