When is a potato not a potato? When it has Provenance!
 

The buzzword on the lips of high street retailers such as M& S and Waitrose is 'Provenance'. Increasingly their customers want to know the story behind the vegetable - just calling it a 'potato' won't do any more!

According to Parripak Foods, one of the leading fresh vegetable preparation specialists in the country, the provenance of the vegetable is split into two main areas, the region and the variety. Regional trends include authentic Italian vegetables such as Mooli, red onions and spring onions from named Italian areas. There is also a wide range of garlic such as the softneck, strong flavoured Spanish Morado variety that is sourced exclusively from Mercia. Varieties include named potatoes such as Maris Piper, Estima and King Edwards, which Parripak can contract grow for its customers.

Dominic Pleasance from Parripak explained: "This is a far cry from 20 years ago when vegetables were primarily used as a bulking agent. Now all types of vegetables are used as a visual garnish. For example exotic mushrooms such as Shitake, Oyster and Portabello have taken over from the ordinary varieties in many top end dishes. We have also experienced increased demand for exotic tomatoes such as on the vine, Santini and baby plum and heat specific named chilli varieties."

Parripak says they have ramped up their production capability to procure and process short run provenance lines, and are now pro-actively recommending this type of new product development work to their customers.