Sometimes it seems extraordinary how overseas suppliers manage to find a gap in the market when it comes to one of the major root crops grown in the UK, the humble carrot, particularly considering the carbon footprint. Nevertheless Guatemala is the source for 150g of Baby Tendersweet in Tesco’s Finest range at two for £3.

Nearer home, Waitrose is extending awareness of British-grown coloured varieties. There is now a bunched purple version complete with green tops at £1.60 for 400g.

The store is also describing golden raspberries as amber (priced at £1.49 for 150g) and there has been the odd showing of orange cauliflower, mainly presented as florets, while Asda is featuring the whole head overwrapped at £1.

Further indications that growers are responding to the ever-more adventurous public diet is reflected in the fact that globe artichokes from Kent are on offer at Sainsbury’s for £1.90 each.

It is also the time when the media pundits bemoan the fact that English apple varieties from the Victorian era, often with exotic names, have all but died away. While not quite in this category as yet, Sainsbury’s has got underway with what are simply labelled Tydeman’s at £2 for four, rather than give them their full title of Early Worcester, which first appeared in the 1930s.

Meanwhile, newcomers are making headway at M&S with the arrival of British Faralia apricots at £3.99 for 500g.

When the trials began about a decade ago there was some concern that because of our weather conditions annual yields tended to point to the crop being highly variable. Their commercial arrival points to the fact that this season must have fulfilled some of the hopes. -

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