A third of shoppers believe supermarkets do not help them find and buy seasonal produce, new research has found.
The poll quizzed more than 2,000 people about when certain fruit and vegetables are in season in the UK, and found that 90 per cent or more could not answer correctly.
But despite low awareness about specific seasonality, 86 per cent of the survey said it was important to shop seasonally, while only 33 per cent of respondents said supermarkets help them find seasonal produce.
Half of those who did not actively look for in-season produce that was in season said it was because they wanted to eat their favourite food all year round.
More than four fifths (81 per cent) of those who did shop seasonally said they wanted to support British farmers.
“The good news for British producers is that most people want to do more to specifically support them,” said Gillian Carter, editor of the BBC Good Food Magazine.
But she said that the survey should be “food for thought” for supermarkets as customers feel they are not helping them to shop seasonally.
The study said that four per cent of respondents knew when plums were in season, five per cent for blackberries, nine per cent for rhubarb and 10 per cent for gooseberries.
Less than a quarter (23 per cent) knew what months strawberries were in season.
For vegetables, new potatoes were most familiar to respondents, with 13 per cent naming the months they are in season, while 11 per cent knew when corn on the cob was in season, falling to nine per cent for broad beans.
The research, carried out by consumer publication BBC Good Food Magazine, warned that the ‘traditional rhythm’ of seasonal cooking is being lost.
In June, a Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) study found that fewer than six in ten adults knew that they can buy British strawberries in the summer, and just under half of those questioned understood that buying seasonally supported British farmers.
