Potatoes in the Garden

Potatoes are related to a small and important Tuber group along with the less-known Jerusalem artichoke. The potato although popular now was not accepted at first as a palatable vegetable. Although known in Europe by sixteenth century, it was persistently treated as a curiosity.

The real hero of the potato saga is an eighteenth-century Frenchman, Antoine Augustin Parmentier, who had a curious obsession for potatoes from early childhood. His missionary zeal was rewarded when Louis XVI appeared on the eve of the Feast of St. Louis with potato flowers in his buttonhole. From then on, potatoes had arrived, at least as far as Louis’ courtiers were concerned.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, cookery writers were taking the potato seriously too, and today it is calculated that there are nearly 500 different ways of serving potatoes.

Potato Harvest