DINNER tables and belts are being braced for the arrival of the “Spudzilla”, a super-sized potato five times the size of the ordinary British spud.

Weighing in at 3lb each, the gigantic new sweet potatoes, also known as yams, are the largest spuds ever sold in Britain.

The vegetables, which will be sold in 120 Tesco stores from tomorrow, each weigh about the same as a pineapple and are said to be able to satisfy a family of four. They may also make cheer up family members reluctantly pressed into Sunday lunch peeling duty.

“The beauty of the Spudzilla is that they are so easy to peel because of the huge surface area,” said Jonathan Corbett, exotic vegetable buyer at Tesco.

“Until a few years ago sweet potatoes were generally the preserve of foodies and mainly sold well in areas that had large Asian and Afro-Caribbean population.

“Noone has sent this particular potato to Britain before because there has not been a market for them — but the sweet potato has now become the trendiest vegetable in Britain.”

British household munched their way through £28m worth of sweet potatoes last year — an 18% increase on the previous year.

Celebrity chefs including James Martin, Nick Nairn and Phil Vickery have all made use of the vegetable in recent recipes.

Sweet potatoes have long been part of staple diets in the Americas, Asia and Australasia and are claimed to be high in vitamins A, C and E.

The Spudzilla is far from being the biggest potato in the world. One that was unearthed in the central Chinese province of Henan weighed more than 20lb.

But Tesco was criticised yesterday by green campaigners and British farmers who questioned whether they should be importing vegetables from Honduras, where the spudzillas are grown, 5,200 miles from Britain.

Sandra Bell, a supermarkets campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said it was sad Tesco was “boasting about the size of its imported spuds”.

“If shoppers were not already doubting Tesco’s claim to be committed to British farmers and local food they should be now,” Bell said. “If people want big potatoes they can seek them out much closer to home.”

Tom Lewis, a potato grower from Tenterden in Kent, said: “When it comes to vegetables, big does not mean beautiful. Beetroot are best picked early, when they are small, soft and lovely. Leave them to grow and they become hard and woody, and take longer to cook.”

A spokesman for the National Farmers Union said: “We support British farmers and British produce. We would always encourage customers to buy British.”

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