Jersey Royal potatos now in south west M&S stores

Marks and Spencer (M&S) is expecting deliveries this week, and is the first retailer to launch these early season potatoes. 

In Somerset, Taunton and Bridgwater stores will be stocking the Jersey Royals, and in Cornwall, M&S Truro is also expecting deliveries. 

According to M&S, the limited supply of these first Jersey Royals wwould be given to top chefs across the county, but the supermarket is bringing the produce to 75 stores in the UK. 

M&S has also announced that the packaging of the potatoes is made from 100% recycled paper, which they estimate will remove one million pieces of plastic from potatoes within the first year. 

Harry Wilder, senior agronomist at M&S, said: “There’s always a lot of excitement in the team when we start harvesting the first of the Jersey Royals, it signals that spring, and the best of our British produce season is just about to kick off!

"The care and dedication we take to ensure customers get the best of the crop is second to none, our unique chilling process and our dedicated on-site team ensure only the best picks make it to our customers baskets. Not only that, but the new paper packaging ensures we’re leading the way in terms of delivering sustainable packaging solutions too.”

Philip le Maistre grows Jersey Royals for M&S across 180 hectares. Philip is LEAF Marque certified, which demonstrates that the potatoes he produces for M&S are grown sustainably. He hand plants the crops each year using both traditional and modern methods to control weeds and pests.

He ploughs in hot mustard crops before the potatoes are planted, as it helps to hamper soil pests, and introduces naturally occurring micro-organisms that eat the soil pests (rather than the potatoes).