British retailer Tesco is honing in on the little known fact that mushrooms produce Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight, due to a natural substance called 'ergosterol'. 

Any mushroom will produce the vitamin when left in the sun but the downside for consumers is doing this at home can sometimes lead to discoloring or drying out.

Tesco's new product line seeks to resolve this challenge, sourcing the U.K.'s first ever range of mushrooms grown in extra sunlight, emulating the process that occurs with wild mushrooms.

The launch of the new range includes Chestnut, Baby Chestnut and Portobello mushrooms, and follows a recent report by health experts who are concerned that people do not get enough vitamin D – needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy – during the darker winter months.

"As we head into the winter months, we know it can be increasingly difficult to meet the daily recommendations for Vitamin D from a natural source," Tesco mushroom expert Marek Kutera said in a press release.

"These delicious mushrooms will make it easier than ever for shoppers to get all of their allowance from a key cooking staple.

"Just one portion- around four Chestnut or one to two Portobello mushrooms – in your Spaghetti Bolognese is all it takes."

Vitamin D, which helps to control the amount of calcium and phosphate in our bodies, is found naturally in a small number of foods including oily fish, red meat, egg yolks and mushrooms.

Updated advice from Public Health England in July said that ‘in spring and summer, the majority of the population get enough vitamin D through sunlight on the skin and a healthy, balanced diet. During autumn and winter, everyone will need to rely on dietary sources of vitamin D.’

The mushrooms are grown exclusively for Tesco by Irish company Monaghan Mushrooms.

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