by Maureen Gilmer
Do It Yourself Network
The potato famine took more Irish lives than all the wars with the English put together. Estimates of Irish deaths between 1846 to 1851 top one million. Many more fleeing the famine died unaccounted for on ships headed for the United States.
The starchy tubers of this nightshade were introduced into Ireland by Spanish fishermen. It proved so well-adapted to the cool, damp climate that a small tenant farmer, accustomed to a meager food supply, could suddenly feed his entire family on an acre of potatoes.
However, the Irish grew only one kind of potato. This is remarkable considering the fact that over 5,000 different kinds of potatoes derived from many species were grown at that time in their homeland, the Andes of South America. A blight, known today as Phytophthora infestans, first devastated North American potato fields around 1835, and was believed to originate in Peru. From there it crossed the Atlantic and hit Europe.
The disease swept Irish potato fields like wildfire in 1845, producing total crop failure. With most people eating three meals of potatoes a day, the result was catastrophic. Lush green fields melted into quagmires of rotting plants and stinking tubers in just weeks. What appeared to be still edible potatoes were dug, but they quickly turned black and mushy.
The following winter was abnormally cold, and typhus further ravaged the population. Starving peasants described as walking skeletons wandered the countryside eating grass, with no one healthy enough to bury the dead. What seed potatoes remained were consumed early on, preventing recovery in the short term. Crop failure in five consecutive years explains why Irish immigrants were so eager to get any job in America, just so they could eat.
It was clear that the world, and particularly Ireland, needed a more disease-resistant potato. The place to start, of course, was the Andes and those 5,000 varieties waiting to be tested. The result of this is a boom to gardeners today because so many different varieties of potato were brought into cultivation.
Among the more rewarding and unusual are the fingerling varieties that grow fingerlike in shape. They are considered disease-resistant and yield heavily in less ideal soils. For visually exciting dishes, there is the Purple Peruvian, which produces attractive eggplant-colored skin with lavender flesh. Its earthy taste and unusual appearance is always a delight at dinner parties.
The cultured chef might grow Princesse La Ratte, a highbrow French fingerling billed as the "superstar of European haute cuisine." Its popularity stems not only from its shape but a unusually nutty flavor, likened to a combination of chestnut, hazelnut and sweet almond.
Seed for these fingerlings and dozens of other unusual and heirloom varieties can be obtained by mail from the Irish Eyes catalog. These carefully raised seed potatoes are vigorous and certified disease-free. This is important because planting supermarket potatoes in your garden can actually introduce diseases to the soil. Going with certified seed potatoes means you'll produce large yields with smooth, attractive skins.
Had the Irish known of even a fraction of these varieties, the course of history would have been very different. And March 17 would come and go without a single green beer served on St. Patrick's Day in America.
(Maureen Gilmer is a horticulturist and author of 14 books.)
Resources GardenForum.com
The creator of this site is Maureen Gilmer, a noted gardening and landscaping expert and author. She can also be reached at
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Garden Forum/Mo Plants
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gourmet potatoes
Specialty garlic and shallots also available.
Princesse Specialty Produce
Phone: 631-537-9404
Email:
hello@princessepotato.com
URL:
www.princessepotato.com
Irish Eyes - Garden City Seeds Catalog
2002 catalog may be downloaded from Web site.
Irish Eyes - Garden City Seeds
Phone: 509-964-7000
Fax: 800-964-9210
Email:
potatoes@irish-eyes.com
URL:
www.irish-eyes.com
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