Jersey Royals

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Jersey Royals
Jersey Royals, boiled. Note that the thin skins are left on.

The Jersey Royal is a cultivar of potato grown primarily as a new potato. Only those grown on the island of Jersey can be referred to as Jersey Royals because the term is a trademark.[1][2]

Potatoes of the same variety, grown elsewhere are known as international kidney potatoes.


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.[3]

Present day[edit]

In modern times, the Jersey Royal is Jersey's biggest crop export, accounting for around 70% of agricultural turnover.[4] 99% 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.[5]

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


  1. ^ Davison, Bernice (30 March 2009). "Jersey Royal potatoes: Pick of the crop". London: The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-04-10. 
  2. ^ Jersey Royal
  3. ^ "Jersey Royal", This is Jersey, accessed 18 January 2009.
  4. ^ "No 'small potatoes' for marketing", BBC News, 1 April 2008.
  5. ^ "BBC News - Jersey Royal potato exports fall". Retrieved 2013-10-12. 
  6. ^ "DOOR - Database of Origin and Registration "[dead link], Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission.

External links[edit]