The humble potato is a staple food around the world – it’s actually the fourth most grown crop after wheat, maize, and rice. It’s also a key ingredient for one of Britain’s best loved dishes – Fish and Chips! Although potatoes are now grown all over the world, they originally came from South America – the Incas of Peru were the first to grow them around 8000 BC to 5000 BC! The Spanish Invaders of South America first brought potatoes back to Europe in 1536 and Sir Walter Raleigh is believed to have planted the first potato seeds in Ireland in 1589.
Potatoes quickly became popular in Ireland as they produced more food per acre than any other crop. As well as being a great source of energy and fibre, potatoes contain potassium, B vitamins and vitamin C. In the UK each of us eats around 130kg potatoes a year, cooked in various ways – boiled, baked, roasted, mashed, and of course, chipped!
There are now over 4000 varieties of #potato in the world, with around 500 of those grown in the UK. At #JojosFishandChips we use different varieties according to the time of year. Our favoured choice of potato is a main crop best yield Agria, which is available from December to May. Agria are grown specifically for chips in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, where the land is flat, and the soil is nutrient rich – perfect for growing #potatoes ! During the Summer we source early season varieties (Amora and Accord) more locally from areas such as Shropshire, to reduce our impact on the environment. In the Autumn we use main crop Lady Anna, also from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
Whether it’s for our shop at Weeping Cross in #Stafford or our fish and chip van event #catering , our potatoes are peeled, rumbled, and chipped on site every day. So, when you tuck into our multi-award-winning #fishandchips, you can always be sure you’re eating freshly prepared chips - made of course with the finest UK chipping potatoes!
If you’d like to make an enquiry about our fish and chip van event catering services in Stafford, the Midlands and the UK, click here to fill out our contact form.
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