Homegrown asparagus back on shelves after import outcry

Shoppers angered by discovering imported asparagus on supermarket shelves during the short British season for the vegetable are expected to receive a fillip after a sudden burst of sunshine helped the domestic crop.

Supermarket shoppers had complained after finding asparagus grown in mainland Europe and the Americas on sale during the “peak” British season.

The asparagus season traditionally starts on 23 April but leading up to that date the weather was “frustratingly cold” and “slowed it up” leaving airmile-laden imports taking their place, said Chris Chinn, the chair of the Asparagus Growers’ Association.

That is about to change after last week’s run of sunny days helped the domestic asparagus crop “grow like stink” to deliver a bumper crop.

Chinn predicted homegrown asparagus would now be “everywhere”. “It took until the bank holiday weekend for the warmth [in the ground] to come back,” he said.

Shoppers had noticed the British supply seemed patchy this year. While Marks & Spencer’s asparagus has been entirely British since April, other stores are selling imports from major producers such as Peru and Mexico as well as Italy and Spain.

The conservationist Jake Fiennes posted a picture of Co-op asparagus from Peru and said: “This is so wrong as it’s peak UK asparagus season.”

The Co-op said the cold snap had delayed the arrival of its supply, grown in Sussex, and that from today it would be “100% British”.