A branded broccoli variety is being given national marketing exposure this month to help establish it as an attractive alternative to standard brassica crops.

Tenderstem will be featured in consumer newspapers and lifestyle magazines with a national recipe competition backed up by a new web site.

The campaign also highlights the ease with which the vegetable can be prepared and its "sweet taste and tender bite".

First grown in 1997, Tenderstem sales in the year to September doubled to 150 tonnes, prompting major planting. Growers in Kenya, Morocco and the UK aim to sell 2,500 tonnes in 2007.