Potatoes

From the Andes to the friterie

The potato was domesticated in the high Andes and reached Europe in the sixteenth century; within three hundred years it had changed what millions ate — and, in Ireland, how a famine unfolded. Read the journey from the Andes.

A potato's behaviour in the kitchen comes down mostly to dry matter and how its starch cells hold together: waxy potatoes keep their shape, floury ones fall into fluffy mash and crisp fries. Names matter too — a variety like Bintje is not the same kind of thing as a protected name like Jersey Royal.