Fans were surprised when Ed Sheeran interrupted his tour on Tuesday to sign autographs at a supermarket.

The catch? He signed them in hot sauce.

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

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

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

Fans had an hour to make their way to the store after Sheeran announced the pop-up via social media and his email newsletter to fans.

One of those fans was Harry Barnes, who spotted the email in his inbox and thought he’d check to see if Sheeran would show up.

Speaking to Babs Michel on BBC Three Counties Radio, Barnes said there were only a few fans waiting when he arrived – but when word got around that Sheeran was at the van, hundreds flocked to the car park.

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

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

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

He said he changed his mind about asking Sheeran to sign the Timberlake t-shirt and didn’t bring a photo with him.

“I didn’t have anything worth signing,” he explained. “I had this block of cheese they gave me, and Ed was more than willing 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 went home with an unusual signed item – the items took the form of lettuce, broccoli, loaves of bread and a record, all signed with Sheeran’s special pen.

An advert for a roll of kitchen paper that Sheeran allegedly signed at the event has already found its way onto an online sales platform for £1,000.

Fans also received free pizza slices to try the hot sauce.

“It was super exciting to pop into Sainsbury’s and surprise some shoppers,” Sheeran told the PA news agency.

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

It should be noted that other hot sauces are also available for purchase, as are cheese and flowers in other supermarkets.