ALL HAIL THE ARRIVAL OF THE JERSEY ROYAL

Back in the ‘good old days’ day – when you could rely on summer being hot and winter being cold – Jersey Royals signalled the arrival of spring.  This year however, March and April brought gale force winds, never ending rainfall and inch-upon-inch of snow. The weather really has been relentless and we’ve been having a good ‘weather moan’ on a daily basis, but the impact it’s had on fresh produce has been devastating. Jersey Royal farmers and producers have worked around the clock covering and warming up their crop to try and ensure the spuds make it onto menus this spring. Until the warmer weather came it was a waiting game for dozens of farmers and their families who faced the possibility of having some, or even all, of their crop wiped out this year.

Earlier this week I visited the tiny 9x5 mile Island, where farmers were breathing a huge sigh of relief. The wait was finally over. The sun was shining down and workers were tirelessly harvesting the côtils (steeping slopes) and fields by hand to start shipping potatoes to the mainland. The potatoes looked full and healthy – and tasted absolutely wonderful with a bit of salt and butter!

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll begin seeing more and more potatoes in the supermarkets, which go from field to fork in around 24 hours for the freshest taste. Plus they’ll even still be available into July, which is quite unusual, as a late start means a late finish to the season.

Demand for the potatoes is great this year and supermarkets are likely to sell out fast in the first few days as the public snap them up, but over the next couple of weeks harvesting will hit full flow and there’ll be Jersey Royals around every supermarket aisle!

Posted by Caroline Addy 

It's Jersey Royals time!

Here in the Phipps office spring is one of our favourite times of year, not only because it means that summer is just around the corner, but also because it means that the Jersey Royals season has finally begun.  We’ve been busy shouting about Jersey Royals to the long leads since the autumn but now is the time we get to see all our hard work in print, online and even on television - coverage highlights so far include a three minute film on The One Show, a full page in the Daily Telegraph and recipes in over 30 regionals.  Furthermore, top chefs all over the country are creating mouth-watering Jersey Royals recipes to add to their menus - with two months left of the season expect to see Jersey Royals everywhere!

Posted by Lucie Phipps

Media hungry for the first bite of Jersey Royals

Here at Phipps we love seasonal food and nothing says seasonality quite like Jersey Royal new potatoes.  As the season starts - slightly later than usual following a cold winter – we have been very busy here at the Jersey Royals press office making sure everyone knows about the ‘champagne of the potato world’.

With journalists from a number of publications including The Times and Waitrose Kitchen visiting Jersey to experience the journey from field to fork, and with coverage in key titles including Hello!, Red, The Evening Standard, The Independent and BBC 1’s The One Show,  we have definitely been spreading the Jersey Royals love amongst the British press.

If you’re eager to find out what is just so good about these kidney-shaped gems, why not try some of the fabulous recipes from Shaun Rankin (the Michelin starred chef from the island’s Bohemia restaurant) which you can find online at www.jerseyroyals.co.uk.

Posted by Lucie Phipps