ASPARAGUS from 6,000 miles away is being sold in Evesham – the heartland of British asparagus, known locally as “gras”.

Salford Priors resident Paula Gordon contacted the Journal after she discovered Tesco in Worcester Road was selling asparagus grown in Peru, during height of the Vale gras season.

“I don’t normally buy fruit and veg from supermarkets but I was really surprised to see the asparagus wasn’t local, especially in the area that we live,” she said. “I think Tesco should be supporting local suppliers. It’s such a shame it had to come all the way from Peru. I could understand it if asparagus was out of season.”

David Nieberg of Tesco’s press office said the supermarket was “very supportive” of locally sourced produce and was stocking the foreign asparagus in a bid to keep up with demand for the seasonal vegetable.

“We were the very first supermarket to get British asparagus on the shelves this year and we sell more British asparagus then any other supermarket,” he said.

Jo Newbold of Asda, which has a branch in Pershore, said its stores were currently selling half imported and half British asparagus.

“Next week we will be selling 100 per cent UK asparagus but the cool temperatures over the recent weeks have slowed growth so we would be surprised if any big supermarkets were stocking 100 per cent UK asparagus at this time,” she said.

Meanwhile, Co-op stores in Evesham and Pershore are currently stocking asparagus grown in the Vale and Aldi’s Evesham store is selling British asparagus. Lidl confirmed its Evesham branch would start stocking British asparagus from next week. Morrisons and Warner’s Budgens had not provided a response as the Journal went to press.