Disappointing Jersey Royals.

[Robin Joy]

Please does anyone know of a good source in London? Those I've bought this year (mostly from mainstream supermarkets) have been a terrible let-down.

[Robin Joy]

Thanks All.

I'll try to drop into the dreaded Borough tomorrow to see what's there. Ayrshires maybe!

[limster]

How about trying the mushroom man aka Booth's at Maltby street.

[stilldontknow]

I'm fortunate enough to have Ayrshire's available. Not as plentiful these says as they used to be but still knock the socks off Jersey Royals in my opinion.

[Naguere]

Ayrshire's, ha stilldontknow, I am growing quite a few in containers here in Cheltenham. The seed is sold here as 'Epicure' and the EU tried to ban them at one time.

I will test mine this weekend, they are without doubt the best tasting new spud and I think you can only get them if you grow them,

or do you know if they are sold in shops?

[stilldontknow]

Can get them in local fruit n veg shops in Scotland and the farmers markets. Alas I haven't seen them in the supermarkets.

[FarleyFlavors]

Couldn't agree more. Ayrshire new potatoes are the finest potatoes I've ever tasted by a long chalk.

Growing up in South Ayrshire, we would regularly make an evening meal from a mound of fresh-out-of-the-ground new potatoes, a few small cubes of cheddar and butter.

The problem is, we weren't the only ones eating loads of them ! The vast majority of the crop is consumed by the locals, meaning that even the rest of Scotland has trouble getting hold of the best of them.

It's apparently the highly sandy soil near the coast that produces such a fine crop.

If you ever find yourself in Scotland around the middle to the end of July (any earlier crops than this will probably have been "forced" under cover), take a drive down the Ayrshire coast between Turnberry and Ballantrae and you'll see plenty of farmers' signs advertising their wares.

[stilldontknow]

Might be worth a wee trip down the A77 to get some straight from the farm.

[zuriga1]

Robin, maybe this article will be of interest to you.

http://www.lovefood.com/guide/produce...

[Naguere]

I bought two packs in Tesco at the weekend, they were fine, but lacked that special newness.

I would try M&S and go for them loose rather than in packs.

[Theresa]

I would think that you are more likely to get decent new potatoes at a small greengrocer or a farmers market rather than a supermarket or department store.

[Nancy S.]

I know that in New York City, where I live, the potatoes available at the supermarket are not at all in the same league as those available at the farmers market (e.g., at Union Square). When they are "freshly dug", as advertised by my favorites farmers at the Union Square Market, the potatoes are sweet, creamy and other-worldly, compared to the more aged (and perhaps less nurtured) product sold at supermarkets.

-----
Union Square
Unit 11, Entertainment Avenue, London SE10 0DY, GB

[Naguere]

Not at all, you are quite wrong.

M&S would source the spuds from the Island of Jersey. and fly them to the mainland.

Small shops with a long supply chain just would not do..

and any of them grown other than on the Island of Jersey are not true 'Jersey Royals'.

[FarleyFlavors]

If they're not grown on Jersey, they're not only not "true Jersey Royals", they're not "Jersey Royals" at all. They have PDO status.

[Theresa]

Small veg shops in large cities will get daily fresh veg every morning from their main wholesale market (eg. New Covent Garden), which in turn get fresh veg delivered daily from source - so the supply chain is not that long unless you live miles from a large whole sale market and/or your local shops only get veg once or twice weekly. I also imagine it takes some time for M&S to get their spuds washed and bagged before being distributed to their various stores.

[zuriga1]

I thought they were a basketball team. :-)