Jersey Royals

aardvaak

I today purchased so jersey royal potatoes from my local supermarket that were greatly reduced as nobody wanted them to 35p and thought it worth a punt to see what they tasted like.


In my opinion they greatly overestimated and have been associated by a lot of Bu***hit surrounded by them as I consider they taste the same as baby potatoes from the same store.


My question is if I planted them in my plot what would happen - would they grow?

Farway

Yes they'd grow. A friend has a daughter living on Jersey and he often brings back Jersey spuds, from the source so to speak, which he then grows on


Agree about the over hype BS, I suspect they have gone same way of lots of products, every one on bandwagon and not often grown in the traditional way any more, like collecting seaweed & spreading on the land, but because they are grown in Jersey they can have the label.
Same as Cornish pasties I guess, very variable but all must originate in Cornwall to get the label

On a personal level I prefer the early Cornish spuds, or early Cyprus

unrecordings

Yep they'll grow, even if you cut one into pieces, so long as each piece has a couple of eyes, they'll sprout & grow

Jersey is just branding but with geographical legal protection (can't remember the specific phrase), like champange, cornish pasties, stilton cheese, melton mowbray pork pies etc etc

+1 on cyprus potatoes, very tasty - not had them for years, our old grocer used to get them in but i've not noticed them for a while

suki1964

Jersey Royals are pretty damm tasteless nowadays

Year ago they would only be in the shops for a week or two, lovely tiny kidney shaped potatoes with a skin that just rubbed off with your fingers

Those we didn't sell that day we had to put back into sacks and cover in compost to keep, if too much light got to them they would go green in a day because the skins were so delicate

They tasted lovely and were something to look forward to, same as English strawberries , short season but absolutely bursting with flavour

-taff

Jersey Royals are sold with that name, but if you want to grow your own, they're sold as International Kidney.

A._Badger

This has been discussed quite a lot previously (posibly here, possibly on the food group - I forget which).

The loss of the taste traditionally associated with Jersey Royals is widely attributed, as has been suggested, to the use of intensive farming methods in place of the traditional fertilisers previously used - notably seaweed. Certainly, it is something I have noticed over the years.

It is correct that International Kidney is the right seed potato to grow but I have tried it several times and I cannot achieve that elusive 'original' taste, even when I have used seaweed supplements and traditional fertilisers, so I'm left wondering whether we are seeing varietal drift here, as we have, for example, with the tomato Gardener's Delight which is now a far cry from what it was 20 or 30 years ago, due to poor maintenance by the seed producers. It would be interesting to hear the opinion of Alan Romans or one of the seed potato producers on this subject.

I agree, incidentally with Farway (as I so often seem to). New potatoes from Cornwall and Cyprus seem preferable. I would add Egyptian to that roll of honour and, a little later in the year, Kent grown Maris Peer take a lot of beating .

Farway

A._Badger wrote: »

I agree, incidentally with Farway (as I so often seem to). New potatoes from Cornwall and Cyprus seem preferable. I would add Egyptian to that roll of honour and, a little later in the year, Kent grown Maris Peer take a lot of beating .

Ahh, I'd forgotten the Egyptian ones, they are good.

OT I was in shop when an [STRIKE]argument[/STRIKE] discussion ensued about whether they were Egyptian or not


Elderly bloke reckoned they couldn't be or else they would have sand on them not peaty soil:)

silverwhistle

I'm sure we've had this discussion before about the use of vraic on Jersey potatoes! I'd agree, when a local greengrocer has early Cornish spuds I was impressed.


I really ought to go down the local foreshore and get a tub of seaweed and conduct experiments next year.. Not sure it's the same variety, probably not, as we don't get wrack here in our sheltered harbour, but I suspect there would still be benefits.

slinga

JRs have lost their taste completely for me.


Pembrokeshire are the new potatoes for me followed by Gower.

no.1swimmum

They are certainly bland compared to yesteryear, last year we holiday on Jersey staying in an annexe to a property the owners lived in. One afternoon the owner gave me a bag of Jersey Royals and a sprig of mint from the local farmer - oh my goodness, I was transported back 40+ years the taste was sheer heaven, and just as I had remembered from my childhood served with a piece of butter. Its just one of many things that no longer taste like they did, so sad.