Andy’s Blurb on New Potatoes

Ingredients

• new potatoes
• a little butter
• a pinch of salt
• a twist of fresh ground pepper

Recipe Notes

Directions

True new potatoes are a rare treat. A new potato is not a small potato but a fresh potato harvested from a green, growing potato plant. A somewhat scuffed, frayed appearance to the potato skin is a frequent consequence of harvesting such tender spuds and is unavoidable because the skin has not yet hardened. If left to mature new potatoes would get a little bigger and the skins would get tougher making for typical potatoes that are easier to harvest and ship. Unfortunately for the potato connoisseur the potato, once cured, always loses some of its tender moisture. New potatoes wilt and must be treated like green vegetables and stored in a bag in the fridge. When I get them as a first treat of the potato crop I never store them at all but eat them promptly. I like to steam them briefly and then roll the hot little potatoes in a little butter, a pinch of salt, and twist of pepper and voila! Do potatoes get any better? A friend from Idaho said when she was a girl they would eat new potatoes raw. I’ve tried it – the experience is not unlike jicama.