Waitrose is expecting another sell-out success from Heston Blumenthal with the roll-out this month of his latest Christmas pudding creation.

The retailer is now carrying the Heston From Waitrose Persian Christmas Pudding (£14/800g), which contains apricots, pomegranate liqueur, pistachios, caramelised orange and Middle Eastern spices. The pudding has a honey and rose butter centre and a copper glitter finish.

The launch comes six years after Waitrose first teamed with the chef to develop unique products, with the Heston From Waitrose range now including almost 60 SKUs.

"My new Persian inspired Christmas pudding has a magical twist using the very best of Middle Eastern spices, which lend themselves to that distinctive Christmas taste,” said Blumenthal.

Waitrose will be hoping the Persian-inspired pud can replicate the success of the chef’s Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding, which was launched six years ago and will also be available this Christmas.

The Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding has appeared in eBay auctions in previous years as consumers struggled to find it in stores – and the Persian Christmas Pudding is expected to follow suit.

Waitrose is also rolling out new-look packaging for the range featuring animals dressed in human clothing – such as a pig in pearls on the bacon rasher pack, and a family of cows on the new ice cream tubs.

Other new festive Heston from Waitrose lines include:

Spiced Shortcrust Mince Pies with a Lemon Twist (£3/four-pack): Aspiced shortcrust pastry mince pie and lemony Sussex Pond Pudding.
 
Charcoal Smoked Salmon Bagel (£3.60): A charcoal bagel topped with chia seeds and filled with Heston lapsang souchong tea-smoked salmon, dill and caraway pickled cucumber, and soft cheese.