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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Jersey Royal new potatoes

54 replies

Iamnotminterested · 02/07/2021 15:42

Is anyone else nostalgic for the taste of these from their youth?

If we had 'salad' it always came with a bowl of these lovelies, carefully prepped to just scrape away the loosest papery skin, boiled and smothered in butter 😍

I bought some earlier, the most expensive in the shop and I'm a bit sad at how meh they tasted - ok, but nothing like the ones I used to eat as a child.

Does anyone know where to buy good ones, or am I just reminiscing with rose-tinted glasses on?

OP posts:
newnortherner111 · 02/07/2021 17:15

Never keen, given ancestors from Guernsey. Seems wrong somehow.

TheQueef · 02/07/2021 17:17

Most potatoes taste the same now.
I used to save up for cherries, I loved them.
Big brown paper bag full from the Top fruit shop (never the Bottom fruit shop) always finished before I got home.
Stopped buying now, last decent ones were Lidl but even they were mushy. These days they look like a flock of pigeons have been at em when they are sold loose.

ScottishNewbie · 02/07/2021 17:19

Vivaldi potatoes from Sainsburys are lovely. I have really gone off new potatoes or any potato not mashed or roasted, but I got some the other day and simply boiled them and dressed them and they were divine. Everyone said they couldn't believe the flavour.

speakout · 02/07/2021 17:23

I loveJersey spuds- but New potatoes from Ayrshire beats them hands down. I am sure there are lots of good local varieties.
Often produce grown in harsher conditions taste better though
Like the short sharp growing season in Scotland for soft fruit- brambles, strawberries, rasberries small , but pack a punch.

DonLewis · 02/07/2021 17:25

It's our food chain. They used to be sold in greengrocers from growers not very far away. Transit time was nothing. Nowadays, the potatoes you eat have travelled miles, been in warehouses and cold stores galore, and are grown in a mass factory like farm.

It's all wrong. I grow a lot of tomatoes, potatoes and fruit because they're all the things that taste rubbish when they've been treated like this.

It's so sad, isn't it?

TheSpottedZebra · 02/07/2021 17:26

I think all fruit and veg being kept in the fridge hasn't helped the flavour. When did jersey royals start getting refrigerated?

NB the variety is International Kidney, which I could grow on my allotment. But to be marketed as a jersey royal it would have to come from Jersey.

DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat · 02/07/2021 17:26

@GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal

We had some off our local market the other day that were lovely. But in general I don't think potatoes taste like they used to. Years ago DH and I visited a Croatian farm and they served us chicken and potatoes for lunch. Simple food, simply cooked - but omg, it was delicious, and yes, the potatoes tasted like the ones I remember from my childhood. I still dream about that meal sometimes...
Years ago in Lanzarote, we were served chicken and potatoes for dinner, on the boat after a days trip around the island. Little Canarian potatoes cooked and left to dry in seawater. OMG they were so delicious.
Sideorderofchips · 02/07/2021 17:26

As a jersey person I love them. But you guys actually get them cheaper than we do!

BashfulClam · 02/07/2021 17:33

It was Ayrshire potatoes when I was growing up as we lived on the coast. They are just not as good now. My mum would soften spring onions in butter and pour over them 😋

dottiedodah · 02/07/2021 18:02

PigsDofly I think they were a treat as my Nan was a savvy shopper too! just they seemed expensive when I got something similar recently .Not the same alas ,but they are a yellow and pink sort of colour you see. 250g for £2.50 compared to 800g for £4.00 in Sainsburys .Still not that lovely flavour I well remember though!

dottiedodah · 02/07/2021 18:06

Halsall you may be right .Thank you .As you can see above ,they are yellow kind of colour but not the same sadly .Maybe I will buy some trees! One of my neighbours has a grape vine (for making wine) not edible as such .However it has done well in the last few years . Quite warm here. South Coast.

FedUpAtHomeTroels · 02/07/2021 18:14

I've been buying a bag of jerseys each week for a while now. But there were none on Wednesday when I shopped so got Pembrokeshire Earlies, delicious.

lollipoprainbow · 02/07/2021 18:22

Growing up in the 80's I remember not being able to get strawberries until the summer ! The excitement of getting a punnet of strawberries from the local green grocer in a brown paper bag !! Does anyone else remember the tiny white seedless grapes you used to be able to buy? They were so sweet and delicious nothing like the giant seedless grapes you get now that taste of nothing !

Halsall · 02/07/2021 18:29

dottiedodah yes, they're a yellow-fleshed cherry. I've got a morello tree but those are cookers, not eaters. Also a grapevine which gives a good crop but the grapes (white) are tiny and have lots of pips so they're not much good for eating, though they're quite tasty.

I had some Jersey royals in my veg box recently - we get an OddBox - and I have to say they were really nice, but not as nice as the ones my mum used to grow....now, those were delicious with butter and mint....

Waterlemon · 02/07/2021 18:36

I think it’s because they come pre-washed now, no soil still on them and no papery skins.
I would love to be able to buy them loose, But no markets or independent greengrocers round here.

Knitwit99 · 02/07/2021 18:40

I got a bag in our local veg shop a few weeks back, they were delicious. Went back the next week and they were much bigger and not nearly so tasty.
Guess I got lucky that first week

ememem84 · 02/07/2021 18:45

Jersey royals are the best. I’m biased because I’m from jersey and we have a fave honesty box to get them from.

But they’re best when the farmer has planted them then thrown seaweed on the top. Nutrients apparently in the weed which give them the flavour.

But a hot bowl of potatoes with loads of salted butter. Heaven.

Lincslady53 · 02/07/2021 18:47

We live in Lancashire and it seems every shop, and farm advertise locally grown new potatoes. There us a lot of competion between different farms, and the local facebook page often has threads on which spuds are best.

Grilledaubergines · 02/07/2021 19:49

Jersey Royals don’t have that flavour of my childhood anymore. No potato comes close, the flavour was so distinctive.

Original poster
Iamnotminterested · 03/07/2021 09:14

Glad it's not just me.

Will check out the Sainsbury's ones, or get an allotment Grin

OP posts:
ilovebagpuss · 06/07/2021 17:33

@MrsFin sorry yes my DF has not grown Jersey Royals they are some other new potato but they tasted like a decent new potato.
The ones I tried from the Jersey Royal Co were from Jersey but they didn’t taste of much at all and I wondered if they had been stored too long.

tangone · 06/07/2021 17:37

You can buy them loose and mud covered in waitrose. The pre-bagged ones are all horrible.

Branleuse · 06/07/2021 17:38

Potatoes are one of the things its worth buying the luxury extra special version of.
Tomatoes too

Craftycorvid · 06/07/2021 17:55

Oh I want some new potatoes now. Just dug up. 😕

cardibach · 06/07/2021 18:04

@FedUpAtHomeTroels

I've been buying a bag of jerseys each week for a while now. But there were none on Wednesday when I shopped so got Pembrokeshire Earlies, delicious.
I came in the recommend Pembrokeshire potatoes as an alternative!