Jersey Royal

The Jersey Royal is the marketing name of a type of potato grown in Jersey which has a Protected Designation of Origin. The potatoes are of the variety known as International Kidney and are typically grown as a new potato.[1]

Potato 'Jersey Royals'
'Jersey Royals', raw
GenusSolanum
SpeciesSolanum tuberosum
VarietyInternational Kidney
Cultivar'Jersey Royal'
OriginJersey

History

In around 1880 a Jersey farmer, Hugh de la Haye, showed friends a large potato that he had bought. It had 15 'eyes': points from which new plants sprout. They cut this potato into pieces, which they planted in a côtil (a steeply sloping field) above the Bellozanne valley. One plant produced kidney-shaped potatoes, with a paper-thin skin, which they called the Jersey Royal Fluke. This was later shortened to 'Jersey Royal'.[2]

Present day

In modern times, the Jersey Royal is Jersey's biggest crop export, accounting for around 70% of agricultural turnover.[3] Ninety-nine percent of production is exported to the United Kingdom.

In 2012, 28,600 tonnes of the potato, worth £28.6m, were exported from the island. This figure was down from 30,890 tonnes in 2011.[4]

Under the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union Jersey Royals are covered by a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).[5][6]

References
  1. Redcliffe N. Salaman; William Glynn Burton (21 November 1985). The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-521-31623-1.
  2. "Jersey Royal", This is Jersey, accessed 18 January 2009.
  3. "No 'small potatoes' for marketing", BBC News, 1 April 2008.
  4. "BBC News - Jersey Royal potato exports fall". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-10-12.
  5. "Policy paper Protected food name: Jersey royal potatoes (PDO)". London: TSO. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  6. Jersey Royal
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