Jersey New Potatoes– Jersey Royals

Jersey Island is  famous for the Jersey New Potatoes, England’s most favorite potatoes that have a different delicious taste due to the special growing conditions from the island. 98% of the Jersey new potatoes, also known as the Jersey Royals, are exported to the United Kingdom and only the other 2% is left for Jersey’s inhabitants and producers.  

The original story sais that a certain farmer, Hugh de la Haye was the discoverer of the Jersey New Potato. He started harvesting this new potato and initially named it the Jersey Royal Fluke. It was only later on that the name turned into Jersey Royal new potato and most of the inhabitants started to grow it.

Not long afterwards, the Jersey Royal became the most important product to be grown and exported, and it was covering two thirds of the islands’ entire crop.

It is said that the Jersey new potatoes have such a special taste due to the different growing conditions they have on the island, compared to other places. Any genetic modification in order to turn the Jersey Royals into a special type of potatoes is completely denied by all the inhabitants and new potato producers. They take major pride in their export product and ensure everybody that their crop is 100% natural; any other remark may offend them seriously.

The island’s land has slopes starting from the northern side and up to the southern, and this fact allows the sun to equally bath the entire crop during the whole growing season. The locals use “vraic” as a fertiliser. This fertiliser is actually seaweed that the locals collect, and spread over their crops in order to make the soil well drained and rich in nutrients.

Depending on what kind of food you plan to cook, you need to think on what type of Jersey new potatoes you want to buy. If you are looking for smaller potatoes then you will find them also more tender, but if the potatoes grow larger by the and of the season, you can also expect them to be more flavoured.

Specialists advice us to buy, as far as we can, unwashed Jersey royal potatoes. Apparently, they keep more of their special properties inside if they are not washed before transportation. In case you decide to buy more at once, it is advisable to store them in dark and cool places, and even in these circumstances, you must not store them too long, they tend to loose their flavour.

You must not take the skin of when cooking the Jersey new potatoes as the special taste and most of the vitamins are kept in there. Make sure you wash them thoroughly first and then you can either steam them or boil them until they turn tender. If you went for larger potatoes, you should cut them in two pieces. After you boil / steam them for 15 minutes, you can feel free to serve them with butter, fresh herbs, parsley or mint.

Apart from being tasteful, the Jersey Royals are also very nutritious. Their skin is rich in Vitamin C and the potato itself represents an important source of complex carbohydrates. What makes the potatoes more special from other carbohydrates is the Vitamin C that is important for the health of the skin, bones, hair and Vitamin B that is also present in this potato, and is important so that the carbohydrates provide sufficient energy for the body.

Vitamin B is also a great help for the nervous system to function properly. The Jersey new potatoes are low in fat and this makes them the perfect choice in any diet, especially as they can be successfully combined with any other courses and can be served as any kind of meals.