The imported potato season has begun at Greydanus potato wholesalers. This Dutch company has been offering imported potatoes for years. In 1950, Klaas Greydanus Senior began importing potatoes from Malta, which arrived in the port city of Harlingen by boat. More recently, besides new Maltese potatoes, the wholesaler has also imported Galatina baby potatoes from southern Italy, where they grow in fertile red soil.
“We used to get most of our imported potatoes from Dutch traders. Lately, though, we contact Italian and Maltese growers directly,” says Jacob Greydanus. “Trial harvests were done in Malta at the end of week 12, and the first Santé potatoes should be in [the Dutch town of] Heerenveen by now.’
Baby potatoes are popular
Jacob, who represents the Greydanus family’s fourth generation, says the demand for new potatoes often begins rising as soon as the sun comes out. “We had a week of good weather in early March, and demand started noticeably increasing right away,” he says.
Strangely enough, the demand for imported potatoes starts with asparagus growers. “They want to sell new potatoes with their asparagus, and baby potatoes are particularly popular. The supermarkets quickly follow suit because Maltese potatoes remain popular in the Netherlands.”
The number of Dutch imported potato players has only diminished in recent years. “Quite a few Nicolas from Morocco used to be traded in the Netherlands, but those imports have all but disappeared. That began during the pandemic when it was decided it was better to keep potatoes affordable for the internal market rather than sell them for relatively little money,” explains Jacob.
He, nevertheless, believes there will always be demand for imported potatoes. “It’s hard to say if that will rise or fall, but the demand for imported potatoes has noticeably increased since the anti-germination agents ban. That’s simply because they’re of better quality than the old harvest.”
Internationalization
“On the one hand, there’s more demand for locally grown products; on the other, these days, Dutch consumers want to eat potatoes that look good and taste like they’ve been freshly grubbed. Internationalization means people are also discovering foreign potatoes, causing a slight shift in demand from traditional to new and foreign potatoes,” Jacob, who maintains contact with overseas growers, points out.
Greydanus offers their Maltese potatoes in the well-known Malta bag, while they sell Galatina baby potatoes in small bales. For Greydanus’s customers, the Malta crates come with a brochure about the potatoes. Chefs who use this fresh produce can then share this knowledge with the general public. “These lovely potatoes have a unique story that deserves to be shared. The seed potatoes for these come from the Netherlands and result in a delicious new potato on Dutch plates in the spring,” Jacob concludes. (IH)
For more information:
Aardappelgroothandel Greydanus
Tel: +31 (0) 513-681268
[email protected]
www.greydanus.nl