Morrisons will be giving away 200,000 wonky carrots in the lead up to Christmas for kids to leave for Santa and his reindeers.
The supermarket wants to support the festive tradition of leaving out refreshments on Christmas eve, while also introducing children to wonky veg.
The supermarket’s community champions will be handing out bags of the “magic carrots” from Tuesday 20 December at stores across the UK.
“We want to make it easy for our customers to enjoy this magical tradition and highlight that wonky carrots are just as tasty as perfect-looking carrots, they are often cheaper, and there are plenty more available to buy,” said Jessica Lawson, Head of Morrisons carrot plant in Yorkshire.
Morrisons also hopes to encourage families to buy large or misshapen carrots throughout the year.
The move was sparked by research by the Office of National Statistics, that found leaving food and drink out for Father Christmas and his reindeer is still a popular tradition among families in the UK.
The research showed a carrot is the most popular item left beside the fireplace (57%), with a mince pie (56%) a close second and a glass of milk (41%) topping a glass of sherry (32%) as Santa’s preferred tipple.
‘Carrots for Rudolph’, which look misshapen but still “taste delicious”, will be handed out at the entrances of the 492 Morrisons stores across the UK to help families take part in this annual tradition.
Morrisons has a carrot washing and packing plant in North Yorkshire where carrots are sorted into perfect and “wonky” bags. Morrisons Wonky Carrots are for sale at 41p for a 1kg with the graded variety on sale at 60p for a 1kg bag.