Paul Cherry

Paul Cherry

A Birmingham wholesaler had to hide the first Jersey Royals of the season, such was the fervour for the potatoes.

R & RW Bartlett on Birmingham’s Pershore Street wholesale market has received what it believes are the first Jersey Royals to wholesale in the Midlands this season.

The wholesaler said the product was “gone in seconds” when it put the potatoes on sale on Monday, with a further delivery expected later in the week.

R & RW Bartlett received 220kg of the potatoes from one supplier and 59kg from another, selling the product at £4 for 4lb.

Some of the product, currently grown indoors, was destined for the Cheltenham horse racing festival in Gloucestershire via a foodservice company.

R & RW Bartlett sales manager Paul Cherry told freshinfo: “We had to hide them when they came in as we were saving them for the two or three people who had ordered them. They were gone in seconds.

“The quality is superb and the and crop is coming on quite well from what I hear. We could have sold them ten times over and some of the guys on the market were upset not to get a look in.”