Six million cherry tomatoes which have been slightly withered by the sun can be picked up for free at restaurants operated by the Instock company on Friday and over the weekend.

A tomato grower who could not sell his crop to supermarkets and shops has donated them instead to Instock, which uses rejected fruit and vegetables and surplus meat and fish on its menus.

‘It would be such a shame to throw them away,’ Instock’s Djaja van den Berg told the Parool. But six million tomatoes are too many for the company, which has restaurants in Amsterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, to process.

Everyone is welcome to pick up the tomatoes but need to bring their own box or crate to take them home with,’ Van den Berg said.

Last week, a plumb farmer from Zeeland was in a similar position when it turned out his plums were slightly too small to be sold in supermarkets.