Potatoes

The potato is one of the world's most important food crops. They were first introduced to Ireland and Britain from America in the 16th century, and are now one of our most valuable sources of vitamin C, carbohydrate and fibre. Potatoes are an extremely versatile vegetable, and can be boiled, baked, roasted, steamed, fried and mashed.

They are available in two sizes: large maincrop potatoes and small new potatoes. New potatoes are not a separate variety, merely any potato harvested when it is young and sweet, usually between June and August. Maincrop, or old potatoes, are lifted from late summer onwards when they are mature and fully grown. Because much of their sugar has been converted into starch by that point, they are much less sweet than new potatoes.