Searching the multiple shelves every fortnight for what is different, exciting or even new in terms of packs and varieties tends to be a hit and miss affair - there might be something special from one of the chains, but it is not necessarily stocked by my local branch.

However, Tesco provided a helping hand this week with shelf-barkers that tell customers to look out for new products. In some cases these are immediately identified, which makes things easier, and certainly there were a lot to choose from this week.

A new dimension has been added to the avocado category with the introduction of a guacamole pack (thanks to Old El Paso) at £2.69 for two large Fuerte, a Brazilian Tahiti lime and a spice mix from the popular Tex-Mex brand.

In the salad section there were brightly-coloured mixed salad packs at £1.99 with a message band on pack declaring that salads are naturally low in fat.

And to top it off, an apple and pear snack pack appeared on shelf at 69p with Argentinean Braeburn and Packhams.

In Sainsbury’s the cherry season has got under way. Fruit was packed in Ziploc bags priced at £8.99 a kg, but I was unable to find the source either on the pack or the shelf. The only message was “refrigerate and wash before use” and the 8099 PLU. More easily identifiable was Spanish Early Bigi (not a variety I know) at £3.49 a punnet.

And, while citrus is still coming in from Spain, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference brand is being carried on Lane Late at £1.99, although the fruit I saw was, unusually, from the US.

Soft fruit, of course, is now coming into full flow, but there is no doubt that customers at Marks & Spencer will have to familiarise themselves with some of the new variety names. I counted Candinga, Lanai and Agura form Spain, but it may be some time before any of these become as well remembered as Cambridge Favourite or Elsanta.

Meanwhile, it seems that persimmons are becoming more popular. I make the point as once the only sources seemed to be Spain, Italy and Israel. But meet the Fuyu at £2.29 from South Africa. A case of the more the merrier.

And finally, I overheard a bit of a conundrum at the Waitrose checkout, which happily was quickly solved. The chain’s watercress supplier John Hurd must be the only producer of the crop to have his name on the bag for his organic production. A customer asked how it could be organic as it was grown in water and not soil?

The answer, apparently, is that the water has to be tested in the same way, although natural rock phosphate is still added to improve the nutrients. Apparently organic salads yield lower and are slower to grow.

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