January has historically been a time when citrus comes into its own, although so far I have yet to see any Seville Sours on the shelves.

What is new, however, among the plethora of easy peelers at Marks & Spencer is the 450g pre-pack of Tiny Tangerines from China, priced at £2.99 and previewed in FPJ at the end of last year. According to information for consumers detailed on the label, the fruit comes from the Jiangxi province where it has been grown for 1,300 years.

Small seems to be beautiful at some of the other retailers too now that the new year has arrived. I have come across apple bananas before, but Tesco is offering a miniature fruit from Costa Rica it has dubbed Bananitos. While research has shown that buyers like the different colour shades of their larger cousins, the instructions to shoppers in this case are to wait until the skin gets speckled before enjoying.

In the same store it seems there are more examples of environment-friendly packaging. Organic Portobello mushrooms at £1.49 for 200g, grown in Suffolk, are presented in a compostable punnet. Further along the same shelf is a specially selected 750g polybag with the same attributes retailing at £1.99. A look at the small print identifies the produce as Ditta from Austria.

Spreading the healthy eating message also seems to have taken a new twist in time for the dieting season. Linked to a range of tomatoes priced at £1.79 for a 420g punnet, M&S is offering the first month’s membership at a health club for free with no joining fee provided monthly use is made of its &More credit card.

And staying with tomatoes, among newer varieties, ladies’ names now seem to be the vogue at Sainsbury’s. Meet Flavour Ripe Dorothy from the Canary Islands at 99p a punnet, and her more expensive sister Brenda, a slicing tomato from the Iberian Peninsula at £1.29p for two.

And accompanying them, for everyone who wants to lose weight, there is a mass of salad products. The Living Salad range really seems to have taken off at Home Harvest, and now includes a selection of the more unusual baby leaves for £1.49. These combine Red Chard, Baby Pak Choi, Tatsoi and Golden Streaks.

Top fruit is still going strong and Waitrose, I note, has given French fruit a stronger identity post-Christmas using some of the best regional sources. Loose Granny Smith at £1.59 a kilo is individually stickered Granny Sud, while Golden Delicious at 10p less comes from Limousin, regarded by the French themselves as one of the best-quality production areas for the variety. If my memory serves me well, some fruit is even sold as Class Extra.

And in the luxury line, cherries are making a far more regular appearance at this time of year, with Argentina now giving Chile a run for its money.

Up until this season, I had thought that Ranier was the sole province of the US, but Argentina is now filling the bill. However, the fruit is far more highly coloured and almost a dark red, rather than having the traditional golden blush.

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