Jersey Royals have hit two top retailers in time for Easter - two weeks earlier than last year.

Tesco has received the first supplies of new-season Royals from its depots in Harlow, Didcot and Southampton.

Meanwhile, Greenvale AP has announced its first supplies from the island will also be in selected Sainsbury’s stores for the bank holiday weekend.

Greenvale is sourcing the potatoes from Steven Carter of Farm Fresh Growers, affiliated to marketing desk, Jersey Quality Produce.

They have been grown in polytunnels this year to enable such an early harvest.

Dave Baxter, operations director at Greenvale AP said: “Easter is a key time for fresh potatoes and we all know how much Sainsbury’s customers love Jersey Royals. It is nice to see such a good quality crop be available in store so early in the season and it is encouraging how much care and attention to detail has been put into this crop by the grower.”

The Jersey Royals will be available in three Sainsbury’s stores in the London area from April 13 and then in 33 stores from Easter Monday.

Tesco reported its first liftings have come from Jersey’s cotils - the sea-facing slopes, which benefit from warm breezes, enabling them to produce earlier crops than the main inland fields.

Some cotils are so steep that pickers have to be let down on ropes to gather in the crop.

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