Late spring is certainly in the air, which is probably the reason why more retail space seems to have been given over to berries and salads. In the case of Marks & Spencer, English strawberries have really got underway, and the season is being underpinned by a linked offer on asparagus and Jersey Royal new potatoes.

It was the prepared salad fixture that really caught my eye in M&S though, with its range of new presentations including 125g of red spring onion and chives at £1.99, served with green Batavia and Cos lettuce.

Squeezing the dividing line between baby leaf and prepared salads even closer, I noticed pesto is appearing in 300g packs of mixed leaves, at £2.99.

And among the mouth-watering descriptions that continue to crop up along the aisles in general, I spied a 335g house salad at £2.99, in a smart bowl. The fulsome contents included cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green Batavia and oakleaf, radish, lamb’s lettuce and salad onions.

Boundaries also continue to be stretched with the endless variations of tomatoes. The latest exclusive offering from M&S is a 250g pack of yellow and red Piccolini on the vine. Retailing at £2.19, the exotic sounding and looking fruit is actually grown in Lancashire, and was discovered by grower Bernard Sparkes.

And if it is history you want, look no further than the 150g pack of unsized Padron Tapas peppers, priced at £1.99. Apparently, they were introduced to northern Spain in the 18th century by Mexican monks. And there is still an annual festival somewhere south of the Pyrenees to celebrate the fact.

Meanwhile, a reminder that the barbecue season is not far away is reflected in what I believe is one of the most novel ideas I have seen for a long time - fruit for roasting at £3.99 for 350g. The fresh-cut contents are presented in a shallow, heat-proof tray, and are made up of mango (35 per cent), pineapple (31 per cent), peaches (16 per cent) and strawberries (13 per cent), with the balance of the weight in toffee butter. It will be interesting to see if the concept catches on with other retailers, as well as the public.

There are, of course, other ports of call on the high street, and I was interested in the message at Asda, where several lines are carrying a bright blue sticker heralding the announcement of a “trial“ price. The first case I noticed was baby-leaf watercress, reduced from £1.28 to £1. It will be worth keeping an eye on the shelves to see what happens when the trial is over.

Price reductions, I am told, whatever the various retailers choose to call them, are steadily taking the place of buy-one-get-one-frees, due to the prevailing economic climate. To illustrate the point, Tesco’s shelves are adorned with messages announcing its latest Fruit & Veg Pledge, which tell customers: “We will cut prices on your favourite fruit and veg to help you spend less.” There are, of course, other ways, and let’s not forget the considerable industry behind on-pack and in-store competitions used to induce sales.

Citrus always seems to feature heavily when it comes to this style of promotion, and in the same Asda store I located a net of five Israeli Valencia oranges, already a bargain at 75p reduced from £1.69, and offering me the chance to win an iPod every day up until July 1.

Topics