Fans were taken by surprise after Ed Sheeran broke off from his tour to sign autographs at a supermarket on Tuesday.

The catch? He signed them in hot sauce.

Hundreds of fans flocked to the Sainsbury’s in Hertfordshire, where Sheeran signed food items including a block of cheese and broccoli from a van in the car park.

The Grammy award-winning star was promoting his hot sauce brand, Tingly Ted’s, which is sold at the supermarket chain.

It may sound like fiction, but that was the strange reality for some shoppers who were in the perfect place, at the perfect time.

Fans were given an hour’s notice to make their way to the store after Sheeran announced the pop-up via social media and his fan email newsletter.

One of these fans was Harry Barnes, who spotted the email in his inbox and thought he would take a look in case Sheeran made an appearance.

Speaking to Babs Michel on BBC Three Counties Radio, Mr Barnes said only a few fans had been waiting by the time he got there – but once word got out that Sheeran was at the van, hundreds flocked to the car park.

“I’m a massive Ed Sheeran fan,” he told the BBC.

“The only problem was – I was in a Justin Timberlake t-shirt.”

Mr Barnes had been to a Justin Timberlake concert the night before, and was about to make his way home when he stopped at the supermarket.

He said he had thought better than to ask Sheeran to sign the Timberlake t-shirt. Nor did he have a photograph.

“I didn’t have anything worth signing,” he explained. “I had this block of cheese that they’d given and Ed was happy to sign it with his sauce, as long as I ate the block of cheese with his signature on it.

“I think I had three bites.”

Mr Barnes wasn’t the only one who left with an unusual signed item – the shape of them included lettuce, broccoli, bread loaves and a vinyl record, all signed with Sheeran’s special pen.

A listing for a roll of paper towels, supposedly signed by Sheeran at the event, has already made its way on to an online selling platform for £1,000.

Fans were also given free slices of pizza to try out the hot sauce.

“It was super exciting popping into Sainsbury’s and surprising some shoppers,” Sheeran told PA news agency.

Satwinder Hayre, the manager at the Sainsbury’s in London Colney, said she was delighted that Sheeran had stopped by, saying the singer’s visit “certainly gave our customers shivers!”

It should be noted that other hot sauces are available for purchase, as are other supermarkets for cheese or flowers of course.