[Sca-cooks] Fw: [STEPS] Potatoes? Period?

[Terry Decker]

Potatoes, again.  This question regularly pops up here and is often an
irritation, so let me give you a fast answer.

Yes, potatoes are period.  No, they were not in general use.  The sources
quoted in these two emails do not quote historically contemporary materials,
although they cite it as evidence.  The history is faulty.  I would
recommend going out to the Florilegium and read the earlier discussions
about potatoes including the quotes from Bahuin, Gerard and Clusius.  Even
with our errors, it's a better source.

Sir Francis Drake DID NOT grow potatoes.  That was Sir Walter Raleigh, who
grew potatoes on his estates in Ireland.  There is a scholarly debate as to
whether these were white potatoes or sweet potatoes.  The safe money is on
sweet potatoes which were in demand and use in Elizabethean England.  There
is no definitive evidence that he grew white potatoes.

While Drake may have encountered potatoes on his voyage around the world
(1577-80), they would not have survived the voyage.  It is believed that he
took on potatoes as part of the ships stores in the sack of Cartenga during
the expedition of 1585-86.  He then sailed up the coast of North America and
rescued the survivors of the first Roanoke Colony, before returning to
England.  Some authorities speculate that potatoes were served at
Elizabeth's court and that the potatoes John Gerard describes as "Potatoes
of Virginia" are from this voyage.  While the logic hangs together and I
like it, there is no evidence that proves the theory.  Hakluyt might shed
some light on the question, but I haven't found a copy recently.

Anyway, enough of potatoes.  Check out the Florilegium.  If you have any
questions after that, post away.

Bonne chance,

Bear


>> http://www.sunspiced.com/phistory.html
>> http://collections.ic.gc.ca/potato/history/migration.asp
>>
>>
>> Yes,history shows that they were being grown in Europe in the 1550s.
>>
>> So if you are a Saxon....probably not period, but Sir Francis Drake is
>known
>> to have grownthem during the Elizabethan era.
>>
>> Kiersten