ONE of Hampshire's most traditional crops is to shed its green image in a bid to become the toast of salad bowls this summer.

Watercress, which has been grown along the county's tranquil chalk streams for hundreds of years, is adopting a new bronzed look to help it rocket up the sales charts.

And to help it on its way, the fiery little leaf has brought along some similarly bronzed and glamorous support in the shape of page-three model Jo Guest.

Miss Guest's campaign last summer, called "not just a bit on the side", was a huge success for the leaf, helping it fight its way up the salad stakes.

Now more than 150 acres of the crop have been re-planted in beautiful russet brown, as watercress farmers rebrand their product for the first time in a thousand years.

Producers say they hope the move will launch the leaf into the salad big time, finally giving it the legs to take on the likes of lettuce and cucumber at the top of the tree.

Jo said: "I think the colour is really cool, almost like autumn leaves, and it's just as tasty."

Watercress farmers employed top image consultants Wynk, Hood & Co to develop the new identity, after growers complained too many people were mistaking their crop for the smaller and less nutritional salad cress.

Charles Barter of the Watercress Alliance group explained: "We are sorry to say goodbye to green watercress, but watercress really was bronze in years gone by, so the re-launch is really not as extreme as it might seem.

"The bronze variety was more difficult to propagate and eventually died out in the mid-1960s after going out of favour with farmer."

However, the move has angered some traditionalists who say turning watercress brown is outrageous.

Hampshire Association of Green Salad Growers spokesman Arif Lopol said: "I can't believe they would do this.

"Green is the colour, everyone knows that. Whatever next? Will they be growing purple runner beans or orange lettuce just to make it into people's shopping trollies.

"Watercress isn't a fashionable jacket to be tossed aside whenever the growers fancy. It is a serious crop and needs to be treated with respect and dignity."