Ed Sheeran has made a surprise visit to a supermarket to showcase his hot sauce brand which he used to autograph household items from shoppers’ baskets.

The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter took a break from his stadium tour by making an appearance at Sainsbury’s supermarket in London Colney, Hertfordshire, on Tuesday to promote his hot sauce brand, Tingly Ted’s.

Earlier in the day, the Shape Of You singer took to social media to announce his plans, giving fans an hour’s notice to make their way to the store – but they still turned up in their hundreds.

As well as giving fans a taste by providing free slices of pizza topped with his product, Sheeran also signed autographs for shoppers on their purchased goods by using his hot sauce as a pen.

Lettuce, broccoli, bread loaves, blocks of cheddar, and even a vinyl record were transformed from household items into signed memorabilia.

Some of the items soon popped up online auction websites, with one inventive seller offering to preserve a hot sauce-signed kitchen roll in resin on an eBay listing.

On his surprise supermarket appearance, Sheeran said: “It was super exciting popping into Sainsbury’s and surprising some shoppers.

“Tingly Ted’s has been such a fun project so far, hope everyone is enjoying mixing it with whatever food they like, I’m still discovering meals that it makes even better.”

Satwinder Hayre, store manager at Sainsbury’s London Colney, said: “We were delighted that Ed Sheeran made a surprise visit to our store today to show off his Tingly Ted’s hot sauces, it certainly gave our customers shivers!”

The hot sauce brand made its debut on supermarket shelves in February 2023 and comes in two flavours, Tingly and Xtra Tingly.