One to watch...

For the first time in years; a significant change is coming to the UK’s fresh produce aisles. A Cambridgeshire potato business is setting out to change how consumers buy fresh potatoes.

Chef’s Taste is an established fresh potato range used by chefs in the UK’s premium restaurants. Devised by Linwood Crops, Chef’s Taste presents the perfect potato for each culinary purpose: roasting, mashing, baking, chipping and salads. The brand ultimately assures the very best taste, all year round.

The complexities of great taste

The team at Linwood Crops have identified that the best tasting potatoes are not simply down to specific varieties but are influenced by a multitude of factors.

Regional soil types, husbandry, weather patterns, water applications prior to the day of harvest, tuber size, pre-storage conditioning, storage temperatures, control and flushing of air flows and various other contributory factors can all affect dry matters, fry colours and sugar to starch ratios; Ultimately, “how the potatoes will taste on the day is the aim”.

Linwood have proven through crop knowledge and precise procedures, that phenomenal taste can be available on any day, and season round. This ethos is echoed by Linwood’s dedicated and devoted growers who want to make the potato eating experience great again.

Chef’s Taste – The Hospitality Range

Quality vs Price

Although potatoes are still a firm favourite staple in the UK, in past years they have been met with competition from pastas, pulses and rice; certainly in the fresh retail sectors.

Many growers believe that the decline in demand is in part due to the pressures of price; where “producers are forced to use crop husbandry processes and varieties focused on saving costs rather than producing great, season-round taste”.

As a fresh potato business, with dedicated BRC accredited potato packing facilities, Linwood Crops has always prioritised great taste. Operating in all sectors of the fresh potato industry, this product knowledge coupled with Linwood’s relationships with leading chefs has helped shape the Chef’s Taste range, in supplying the best ingredients by dish.

The lockdown influence

The Covid pandemic has been very testing to all involved within the hospitality sectors. Interestingly, however, the closures of restaurants and a surge in home cooking during lockdown has led to a significant demand for restaurant quality ingredients, ie being, “available to the chefs at home”.

On the back of the Chef’s Taste’s success in the hospitality sector, Linwood has now replicated the range in 2.5Kg retail packs, colour coded for each culinary purpose. This great tasting range is now at negotiation stage with various retailers and is soon hoped to be available to all in the fresh produce aisles nationwide.

For further information contact the Linwood Crops team 01354 707860 or email [email protected]