The first new season Italian Santa baby plum tomatoes arrived in Sainsbury's stores last week ahead of schedule. The produce is grown exclusively for the store by Evesham Vale Growers under glass in southern Italy in exactly the same way as it is grown in the UK.
"This is our sixth season of growing Santa in Italy under 12.5acres of modern glasshouses using nutrient film techniques," said EVG sales director David Shepherd. EVG supplies the Santa variety year-round to Sainsbury's under its Taste the Difference label from its own glass in the UK during the spring and summer complementing this with supplies from Italy in the autumn and winter.
"Customers are really looking for products that deliver the same flavour every time they buy throughout the year," said Shepherd. "By using Santa all year round and mirroring growing techniques in both the UK and Italy we can achieve this."
This year the Italian crop is staring early. "We have had a pretty grotty summer in the UK with poor light levels and production is winding down a bit earlier than usual," said Shepherd. "Fortunately Italy is coming on stream early and they are still getting good light levels of temperatures of 27°C this week."
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