Spudzillas give rivals a roasting

Published on Saturday 2 February 2008 19:04

THE largest potatoes ever to be seen in Britain will be available to buy in supermarkets.

The sweet potatoes are five times the size of ordinary potatoes and will weigh up to 1.5 kilos each, according to Tesco, which will be selling them at 120 branches from Monday.

The supermarket have named them "Spudzillas".

Jonathan Corbett, exotic vegetable buyer for Tesco, said: "One Spudzilla is enough to feed a family of four but the beauty of them is they are so easy to peel because of the huge surface area."

Independent retail analysts TNS Data record that the UK sweet potato market is worth 28m.

A Tesco spokesman said: "The Spudzillas come from Honduras in Central America as they can't be grown here. They are grown to be that size specifically for Tesco. We have taken these super size ones to test the market. They have grown in popularity 18% year on year at here at Tesco."

The vegetable, not native in Britain, is popular in the Americas, parts of the Pacific and China. They are reported to be nutritious and a rich source of vitamin A, E and C, good for skin and vision.

Corbett added: "These whoppers are so big that everyone who sees them does a double take.

"Until a few years ago sweet potatoes were generally the preserve of foodies and mainly sold well in areas that had large Asian and Afro-Caribbean populations."

Sandra Bell, Friends of the Earth supermarkets campaigner, said: "As British potatoes of all shapes and sizes are celebrated at Potato Day in Warwickshire this weekend, Tesco is boasting about the size of its imported spuds – all the way from Honduras."

A spokeswoman from the National Farmers' Union said: "We support British farmers and British produce and we would always encourage customers to buy British."