Tesco is stocking green satsumas and clementines in a drive to cut down on food waste.
Usually, satsumas and clementines are orange, but Tesco says the green ones will still be “perfectly ripe” and taste as sweet as they should.
The green satsumas are the same colour as usual on the inside, but the skins have remained green because a recent period of warm weather in Spain where they are grown prevented the rind from turning orange.
The green satsumas look like slightly squashed limes, and are already in shops. The supermarket says it will also be stocking green clementines ahead of Christmas this year.
Tesco says it is the first UK supermarket to change its rules on stocking the different coloured fruits, or “easy peelers”, as the citrus fruits have increasingly become known.
The green fruits do eventually turn orange but it requires storing them - a process during which waste levels can increase.
Selling them while they are still green means fewer fruits are likely to be wasted.
“At the moment green easy-peelers fall outside of the general quality specifications set by UK supermarkets but Tesco has made the leading move in order to cut down on food waste,” Tesco’s citrus buyer, Debbie Lombaard, told The Guardian.
“As a result of this move to take out a handling stage in the journey from farm to fork shoppers will gain extra freshness for their satsumas and clementines.”
