Young potato plants under plastic at First Tower
That Was Jersey |
Local history for everyone |
CHANNEL ISLANDS |
Sir Walter Raleigh (who was born about 1552 and died in 1618) is famous for various things, one of which was his introduction of the potato from South America to Europe. It may seem strange now, but it was about 100 years before the potato was appreciated as a food crop. Sir Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh, as it was sometimes written) was also Governor of Jersey from 1600 until 1603.
The first known export of potatoes from Jersey was in 1807. Potatoes were sent to the UK and, thanks to the island’s shipping fleet, also to Portugal and to Guernsey.
The potato crop was easily affected by various plant diseases, and this caused great hardship in the countries which had become very dependent on the potato for food and for market. Potato blight swept across the world from America to Europe in the 1840s, reaching Jersey in 1845.
John Le Caudey was a farmer in St Ouen, and he came to recognise that the south-facing slopes (known as côtils) provided the ideal place for growing early potatoes for the British market. In 1859 the first early potatoes were shipped to Britain.
Le Caudey worked hard for the farmers, and his next development was introducing the use of guano as a fertilizer. Guano is the name given to the droppings of thousands of seabirds on the coast of South America. An experiment with two plots of land, one with guano and one without, showed dramatic results; guano improved the crop by 50%. Soon Jersey farmers were not only importing guano, and later other fertilizers as they became available, but were also exporting thousands of tons of potatoes.
The next big development in Jersey’s potato industry was the discovery of the Royal Jersey Fluke. Hugh de la Haye, so the story is told, was a farmer on Mont Cochon in 1880. He went to visit Le Caudey’s store in St Helier one day, and saw there two huge potatoes that had been harvested by another farmer. He asked if he could have them, out of curiosity. He cut them up and planted them, and before long he was placing his crop on show. The new potatoes were named the Royal Jersey Fluke; Royal in honour of the Queen, Victoria; Jersey because they were grown in the Island; Fluke was the name of one of the varieties of potato already grown locally.
Both Le Caudey and de la Haye were honoured with gifts of golden coins and the respect of their fellow Islanders. The Jersey Royal, with its resistance to virus diseases, has remained an important export ever since.
Due to the warm Jersey weather, traditionally Jersey Royals used to be the first new potatoes in the UK each spring. This, along with the fine flavour, enabled them to command a premium price compared with normal potato prices.
Many farmers now grow their early Royals under plastic. This protects the crop from frosts and enables them to get a better price for an earlier crop. The earliest harvests are usually from the steeper south-facing côtils.
Under the general category of Jersey Royals, you will find mids and ware. Mids and ware are new potatoes, harvested early in the season, from early spring through to early summer.
Mids is the name given to the small potatoes; these are pre-packaged for sale in supermarkets, or used in ready meals. Mids are also canned. From the 1950s through to the 1970s there was a canning factory first at what is now the Jersey Dairy in Five Oaks and later at the Summerland site in Rouge Bouillon. About two and a half tons of mids each year are still canned, but these are now sent to Norfolk for processing. Another local crop canned was carrots.
Ware is the name given to the larger new potatoes sold in shops and markets, generally "looseflow" without packaging.
Other varieties of potato are grown in the Island and sold locally as maincrop. These include Estima and Desiree. Further varieties of new potato are also sold in the Island; be aware that these can be Egyptian or English, and are not Jersey Royals.