WHO is going to be eating all those mince pies on Christmas day ?

The finger could be pointing at shoppers at Hedge End's Sainsbury's supermarket, where the festive favourite is flying off the shelves - so much so that the Hedge End store is in the supermarket chain's top ten for mince pie sales.

As the Christmas preparations warm up, Sainsbury's has revealed that nationwide nearly two million have been sold in the past month, mainly to fuel Christmas get-togethers.

Hedge End shoppers have snapped up 58,968 pies to put the store sixth in the mince pie poll.

There will be many more pouring through the checkouts because Sainsbury's expects to sell about eight million mince pies over the Christmas period.

Its mince pie expert, Claire Wright, says: "Sales this year have outstripped last year and if this trend continues we will have suppliers working overtime to make sure all our customers have enough of the festive treats."

Julie Morton, store manager of Sainsbury's at Hedge End, said: "We are really delighted to be selling this quantity of mince pies. Our customers have clearly been delighted with the quality of our product."

Mince pies have come a long way over the years.

The earliest known recipe comes from 1615 where one huge pie would have been made for Christmas fairs.

Known as crib pies for their oblong shape and pastry figure of Jesus on top, they were held together with iron clamps, and could weigh up to 100 kilogrammes.

The average small mince pie of today is about 1,500 times smaller and weighs about 60g.

Its ingredients would have included rabbits, pigeons, partridges, a hare, a pheasant, a capon and the livers of all these animals, along with eggs, pickled mushrooms, dried fruit and spices.

Over the years they became smaller and it became a tradition to hand them out to visitors, leading to their alternative name of wayfarers' pies.

It was considered lucky to eat 12 pies in 12 different houses during the 12 days of Christmas.

Today's pies are made from the sweeter ingredients and usually contain shredded suet, raisins, sultanas, apple, and candied orange and lemon peel.

THE TOP TEN:

1. Colchester 78,804

2. Christchurch, Dorset 64,794

3, Newry, Northern Ireland 62,754

4. Torquay 61,206

5. Burpham, near Guildford 59,964

6. Hedge End 58,968

7. Sydenham, south-east London 58,338

8. Crayford, Kent 57,090

9. Chippenham, Wiltshire 56,952

10. Tunbridge Wells 56,478.