Potatoes, yet again was Re: [Sca-cooks] deep frying

[Terry Decker]

No.  White potatoes are of high Andean origin and would not have reached
Europe until 1536 at the earliest.  The earliest reference to white potatoes
in Europe is from 1573 and they were botanical curiosities when the first
arrived (probably from Italy) in Northern Europe in 1586.

References to the white potato from the end of the 16th Century are mostly
of a scientific nature although several of the botanists are known to have
experimented with eating them.  There may be a recipe for them in Anna
Weckerin's cookbook, but the recipe for Erdapfel in Rumpolt is probably for
pumpkin or winter squash.

Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, were probably eaten on Columbus's first
voyage and appear in a number of chronicles about adventures in the
Caribbean.  In period, potato, common potato and Spanish potato usually
reference the sweet potato.

Bear


>Are french fried potatoes period?
>
>Elric