Baked Potatoes: Fun & Surprising

Ever since people have been growing potatoes, they've eaten them baked or roasted. This show begins showing a Peruvian family harvesting their potatoes and baking/roasting some of them in an earth oven they built out of earth clods. Dried potato vines were used as fuel to heat the inside of the oven. Potatoes were poured in and the entire roof was collapsed to hasten the cooking. The baked/roasted potatoes are dug out, skinned and eaten dipped in an egg and chile pepper sauce.
This show explores some of The Potato Museum's baked potato memorabilia.
A baked potato is sometimes called a jacket potato in the United Kingdom. The baked potato has been popular in the UK for many years. In the mid-19th century, jacket potatoes were sold on the streets by hawkers during the autumn and winter months. In London, it was estimated that some 10 tons of baked potatoes were sold each day by this method. Baked potatoes are often eaten on Guy Fawkes Night; traditionally they were often baked in the glowing embers of a bonfire.
One of the most successful baked potato sellers worked in Smithfield and supposedly sold “about 2 1/2 cwt. of potatoes on market-day; or, in other words, from 900 to 1,000 potatoes [a day].” Mayhew estimated that on “average, taking the good stands with the bad ones throughout London, there [were] about 1 cwt. of potatoes sold by each baked-potato man-and taking the number…throughout the metropolis at 200,…a total of 10 tons of baked potatoes [were] consumed every day…Hence there [were] 60 tons of baked potatoes eaten in London streets, and £750. spent upon them every week during the season.”
Sources
Baked Potato Sellers 1800s
www.geriwalton...
Mickey Day for Suburban Hot Potatoes
By George Vecsey The New York Times
www.nytimes.co...
Matt Lucas' incredible 'Baked Potato' with live orchestra! | The Big Night In - BBC
• Matt Lucas' incredible...
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