Avocado sales soar a healthy 31pc

WHETHER it’s served sliced, blitzed into smoothies or mashed on toast, avocado is more popular than ever.

Once considered a luxury item, the fruit has seen sales soar by 31 per cent in the past year, with retailers raking in an extra £34million in 2015 thanks to its popularity.

One fan is TV cook Nigella Lawson – who faced online mockery when she shared a recipe for the admittedly simple dish avocado on toast during her BBC2 series last November.

But it seems the celebrity chef is not alone, with shoppers across the country flocking to the super-food.

The fruit, from Central America, is packed with vitamins, ‘good’ monounsaturated fats and fibre, as well as more potassium than a banana. It is also used in a number of beauty products, promising properties such as hair growth and glowing skin.

Avocados are also said to boost vision and fight eye disease.

Spinach has also seen a boom in popularity, with sales up by 21 per cent over the past year. Greens in general are up by 12 per cent.

Research firm IRI said this tied in with a juicing fad which has seen sales of blenders and juicers rocket by 49 per cent over the past year.

Soft fruit sales have also gone up by 12 per cent, topping £1billion in sales last year.

Martin Wood, head of strategic insight, retail solutions and innovation at IRI, said: ‘It’s clear that certain categories are receiving a boost from shoppers’ changing attitudes towards natural products and food authenticity, and an increased awareness of the health benefits of certain foods and ingredients. Typically we expect these figures at the start of the year when people adopt more healthy eating habits, but it’s interesting that our data shows growth trends across the whole year.’

Mr Wood said it was ‘encouraging’ to see a push towards healthy food at a time of high obesity rates in the UK.

He put the rise in popularity down to celebrities such as the glamorous food writer Ella Woodward, who is better known as ‘Deliciously Ella’.

Her work has convinced foodies across the UK to ditch crisps for healthy snacks such as fruitbased protein balls. She even uses avocados in brownies.