Why is broccoli the only veg to fall in price?

WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...

Eating broccoli may help stave off heart disease and certain cancers

Apples are up. Lemons too. And carrots, potatoes, cherry tomatoes, frozen peas all cost more than a year ago in a monthly barometer of the cost of living. So why is broccoli cheaper than last September?

Vegetable-dodgers apart, Britons are hungry for broccoli. No longer boiled to within moments of collapse, it is hailed as a nutrient-packed superfood and is a fixture on restaurant menus.

And unlike other staples of the healthy Mediterranean diet - tomatoes, olives, peppers - it can be easily grown in the UK.

Which explains why broccoli is one of the few foods in the average shopping basket to have fallen in price - £1.38 a kilo, down 27% from £1.88 last September, according to new figures from The Grocer.

Demand helps drive price, and canny supermarkets cut prices on in-demand produce to lure shoppers away from their rivals. Supply, too, dictates price, and broccoli is currently plentiful.

THE ANSWER Supplies are plentiful at present Demand is up - so supermarkets cut prices to lure shoppers Looks like a big drop because prices were so high 12 months ago

"The summer has been shocking, and there has either been loads or none," says Tommy Leighton, editor of Fresh Produce Journal. "And these figures are a snapshot. The price now is the lowest it's been for ages."

The other factor is that 12 months ago broccoli was unusually expensive, being in short supply after floods severely damaged acres of broccoli crops in Lincolnshire, one of the main growing areas.

This summer has seen yo-yoing harvests and prices in the UK. It might not have felt much warmer, but for broccoli-growers the elements have combined to produce a temporary glut for September shoppers - helped by imports from Spain, Germany and Austria.

With sunlight hours below average in August, broccoli plants have taken longer to mature. So the price has only recently fallen.

Supplies have been erratic

Broccoli, a member of the brassica family along with cauliflower and cabbage, has long been a staple of the British diet.

But our enthusiasm for it has grown in the past decade, as new varieties that last longer and taste better have come along. A recent addition is a sweeter variety, aimed to make the vegetable more palatable to children; and purple-sprouting broccoli is a hit with foodies.

Not only are the health-conscious eating more broccoli, the likes of Delia and Jamie have helped convince cooks to ditch boiling for steaming or stir-frying, which better suit the vegetable.

WHO, WHAT, WHY? A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

Season-on-season sales are up 15%, showing that both the average price and consumer demand is rising, says Mr Leighton.

While it is a year-round crop, broccoli is associated in the UK with more warming dishes.

"With the summer we've had, people are buying more wintery vegetables," he says, adding that this may explain why supermarkets have chosen broccoli to sell at a knock-down price. "They are fighting each other on fruit and veg."