A pumpkin supplier that supplies Tesco says there will not be a shortage this year ahead of Halloween despite the summer heatwave causing concern for farmers.
Harvest numbers for pumpkins are the same as last year, says Oakley Farms, which grows around five million pumpkins. The range, including standard, large, giant, red and white varieties, will be stocked in Tesco from this week.
Steve Whitworth, operations director at Oakley Farms, said: “While we had the summer heatwave and subsequent downpour in early September, we’ve had no issues with our pumpkins and there is full availability of great quality this year.”
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Tesco pumpkin buyer Emily Hampson said: “The quality of the pumpkins that have started arriving at our stores this week are as good as ever and we have a wide variety of choices available.
“Interest in Halloween continues to grow and last year we saw an all-time record demand for pumpkins.
“This year we anticipate at least equalling that and thanks to our close partnership with Oakley Farms we are on track to do just that.”
The farm works with Tesco to ensure there is as little waste as possible and donates any surplus pumpkins to food charities such as FareShare to create meals.
“Don’t forget pumpkins can be used to cook delicious recipes too, and we recommend using our Culinary Pumpkin and the Autumnal Squash as they are sweet varieties,” said Ms Hampson.
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