Food lovers rejoice – it’s Jersey Royals time again! Jersey Royal new potatoes symbolise the end of dark winter days with a taste that is summer on a plate. Jersey Royal new potatoes form part of our summer consciousness along with the smell of cut grass, tennis whites and long evenings, and for good reason with their unique taste and flavour.
With ‘seasonality’ and going local being the buzz words on everyone’s lips, Jersey Royal new potatoes are one of the few truly British seasonal products still available – summertime is Jersey Royals time as the season runs from the beginning of April to the end of June. When you taste Jersey Royals, you taste the result of 125 years of hand planting and age old techniques in each bite.
Furthermore, when you see the name Jersey Royals, you know that you can trust you’re buying quality, as they are the only vegetable to have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status, meaning they can only be grown in Jersey. They are often referred to as the ‘champagne of the potato world’ by people who care about where their food comes from.
Each bag of Jersey Royals sold can be traced back to the farm on which the potatoes were grown, guaranteeing taste and quality. The name Jersey Royals is emblematic of the sun soaked côtils, the fresh sea breezes and, in some cases, the ‘Vraic’, or seaweed, which is used by farmers as a natural fertiliser.
There is only one real Jersey Royal, but there are hundreds of ways to enjoy it, from recipes created by some of the world’s top chefs to Jersey Royal new potatoes simply boiled and finished off with butter and mint. However you choose to eat Jersey Royal new potatoes, rest assured that they are lovingly handled from field to fork.