SC - potatoes

[LYN M PARKINSON]

>>> 
>  I thought potatoes were period in Ireland... if I am mistaken...
please
>  let me know.

Nope, potatoes, both yams and regular Idaho potatoes are only native to
the
New World.  Of course, there is evidence to suggest that Irish traveling
monks
did make it to the New World, but if they did, they didn't make it
back.<<


Sir Walter Raleigh made it back, and because of his experiences with
famine and poverty in Ireland, tried to get potatoes established as a
food crop.  Whether he was using white potatoes, I don't know.  He got
whatever he took back from Virginia, I remember that, but I think that in
period, the potatoes were still a garden curiosity.  The peasants whose
lot he was trying to improve were too suspicious of the food.


Regards,

Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

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