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Get your free copy17 December 2010, 16:44 PM
- Waitrose's Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding has become the festive season's most coveted product, selling for £1000 online
The dessert, developed by three-Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal, has sold out in the vast majority of Waitrose stores, forcing consumers to search for the speciality online. Entrepreneurial shoppers have posted hundreds of the puddings (RRP £13.99) on Ebay, with some selling for up to £1000.
Food websites are also reporting it as one of the most commonly searched-for items this month. Indeed statistics from discount website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk have revealed the product has consistently remained within the top five most searched-for terms.
“Heston’s Christmas Pudding has caused quite a stir amongst shoppers; not only flying off the shelves in-store at Waitrose, but featuring as one of the most popular searched-for terms on our site for the past seven days running,” says Mark Pearson, chairman of the site.
“To put this in perspective, we feature tens of thousands of discounts from thousands of different retailers at any one time. Heston’s pudding has trumped all other searches for products on our site for a week consecutively; something we rarely see with any products from other sectors,” he adds.
Such frantic demand for a Christmas product hasn’t been seen since 1997, when TV cook Delia Smith recommended consumers use fresh cranberries in their cranberry sauce – causing the fruit to sell out in numerous food stores.
A spokesperson from Waitrose said tens of thousands of the puddings have sold already, but that no more can be made because the candied orange inside takes several weeks to produce.
