International Kidney is a cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

 of potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 grown primarily as a new potato. In the UK, they are best known as Jersey Royal potatoes which are grown only in Jersey

Jersey

Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...

.
Jersey Royal is a Trade mark

History

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.

The farm where Hugh de la Haye grew the Jersey Royal was latterly known as Bushy Farm, on Mont Cochon. Grateful islanders presented Hugh with several gifts including the building of a two storey granite barn, which still bears his name on the lintel.

Present day

Under the Common Agricultural Policy

Common Agricultural Policy

The Common Agricultural Policy is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programmes. It represents 48% of the EU's budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 ....

 of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 Jersey Royals are covered by a Protected Designation of Origin

Protected designation of origin

Protected Geographical Status is a legal framework defined in European Union law to protect the names of regional foods. Protected Designation of Origin , Protected Geographical Indication and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed are distinct regimes of geographical indications within the framework...

(PDO).

Annually the Jersey Royal market has a value of £35m. It is Jersey's biggest crop export, accounting for 70% of agricultural turnover. 99% of production is exported to the United Kingdom.

External links

• Jersey Royal promotional site