Irish Potatoes, A Candy Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the story behind Irish potato candy? ›

They were invented by Irish immigrants in Philadelphia—a candy-making capital in the early 20th century—likely in the 1800s or early 1900s, a time when the city was experiencing a huge influx of Irish immigrants.

While both types of potatoes can be a healthy part of your diet, sweet potatoes are higher in nutrients like vitamin A that may offer extra benefits for your overall health.

Consuming potassium-rich foods like Irish potatoes can help reduce the risk of hypertension and lower the chances of heart disease and stroke. Immune System Support: Irish potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, which is known for its immune-boosting properties.

Irish potatoes are a Philadelphia tradition, one that's more than a century old.

We call them Irish potatoes because the potato was first brought back to Europe in the 1500's and developed as a crop there. The Irish immigrants brought the culture of potato to the United States.

Why were potatoes so important to Ireland? The potato plant was hardy, nutritious, calorie-dense, and easy to grow in Irish soil. By the time of the famine, nearly half of Ireland's population relied almost exclusively on potatoes for their diet, and the other half ate potatoes frequently.

According to the diabetes association, starchy vegetables, like potatoes, are perfectly okay to include in a healthy diabetes diet. Being a complex carbohydrate, starch generally takes longer to break down in the body than simple sugars like sucrose.

Known as the housewives' favourite, the Rooster variety is popular for its versatility. Their ease of wash and peel is attractive for speed of preparation. The Rooster has quickly become the most popular fresh ware potato variety in Ireland, accounting for almost 6 in 10 potatoes grown and sold in Ireland.

Overall, potatoes contain more vitamins and nutrients than rice. And if given the choice between rice or potatoes, 9 times out of 10, we would certainly go with potatoes simply because they are more versatile and can be made in many different ways.

According to Macrobiotic nutritionists and health practitioner Shilpa Arora says, "high potassium food items should be encouraged for high BP. Potatoes, beets, carrots, oranges and bananas are excellent food choices." Potassium negates ill effects of sodium, by eliminating sodium through your urine.

Can I eat Irish potatoes while losing weight? ›

Yes, of course, when they are cooked in a healthy way, and not using any fat or oils. Potatoes are a very underestimated vegetable, and so versatile too. They have virtually no fat, and only 22 calories per oz, so is an ideal food to include in any weight loss program.

Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum), named after the Irish who were among the first to accept the potato, proved to be a source of protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins (Hamilton et al., 2004). Irish potato can also be referred to as 'white potato'.

There are numerous ways in the Irish language to denote a potato's size. Sizable specimens include práta garbh, a large, lumpy potato, gillín práta, a fine, fat potato, and peil, the same word as used for football. Póiríní are small potatoes, like pebbles, as are both creacháin and sceidíní prátaí.

Potato 'Rooster' - Late Maincrop

This versatile Irish potato has found its niche as a top quality late maincrop with a fabulous flavour. The red-skinned tubers have pale yellow, floury flesh that won't fall apart during cooking, making them ideal for crunchy roasties, fluffy mash or a buttery baked potato.

Grains, either as bread or porridge, were the other mainstay of the pre-potato Irish diet, and the most common was the humble oat, usually made into oatcakes and griddled (ovens hadn't really taken off yet).

The proximate cause of the famine was the infection of potato crops by blight (Phytophthora infestans) throughout Europe during the 1840s. Blight infection caused 100,000 deaths outside Ireland and influenced much of the unrest that culminated in European Revolutions of 1848.

Phytophthora infestans is a destructive plant pathogen best known for causing the disease that triggered the Irish potato famine and remains the most costly potato pathogen to manage worldwide.

The first Europeans to accept it as a field crop in the seventeenth century, the Irish were the first to embrace it as a staple food in the eighteenth. The potato emerged strongly in Ireland because it suited the soil, climate and living conditions remarkably well.

The Irish Potato Famine was Ireland's most traumatic event killing some 2 million Irish people and starting a wave of emigration that was to continue for more than a century.