The days are long past when capsicums, or peppers as they are now universally known, were a novelty. While still sold loose, traffic-light packs have added a new dimension, and on the basis that big is beautiful Tesco has also gone a stage further. A family pack of red, green and orange is £2 for five, although the other colours such as purple, white, chocolate and even black are still taking time to catch on.

Historically Portugal has been the domain of Rocha pears, and it is the country’s major commercial variety, although it took several years for UK supermarket buyers to discover that. Since then there have been very regular Portugese arrivals throughout the long season, but the mould appears to have been broken with Marks & Spencer providing Argentinean Rochas at £2.29 for four.

Inevitably fresh orange juice has always taken second place to cheaper, heavily promoted, processed juice drinks. However, Waitrose and Asda make the point that Valencias - the industry’s international yardstick - can be both eating and juicing oranges and have labelled nets as juicing oranges at £1.06/kg and £2 for two/900g, respectively. The latter is also offering its customers a new apple variety from New Zealand called Genesis, tray packed at £1 for four. There is also the opportunity to contact Asda for customers to give their opinions on its taste.

While putting pats of butter in new potato packs is not new, the concept of linking associated products has now spread. British King Edwards at £1.74/2.5kg are carrying a sticker, which offers 50p off Flora Cuisine. Sainsbury’s is also stretching the boundaries with a Good 4U salad boost, which can also be used in sandwiches and stir fries. The range includes alfalfa and Sango radish shoots at £1.30/50g, and a lentil and bean mix at £1.40/180g.

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