Salt potatoes
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Salt potatoes are bite-size "new" potatoes scrubbed and boiled in their jackets. Salt is added to the water to the point of saturation, giving them their name, and unique flavor and texture. After cooking, salt potatoes are served with melted butter.
Salt potatoes are a regional dish of Central New York, typically served in the summer as the young potatoes are first harvested. They are a staple food of fairs and barbecues. In this region, potatoes intended specifically to be made into salt potatoes can be purchased by the bag along with packages of salt during the summer months. Hinerwadel's is the most popular brand. [1]
The Syracuse, New York area has a long history of salt mining. Salt potatoes were created in the 19th Century by Irish immigrants who worked the mines. The first packaged salt potatoes were sold in the 1960s.
[edit] External Links
Tastes of the Region: Salt Potatoes An essay celebrating the history of Salt Potatoes with a recipie
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The Original SALT POTATOES were coined in 1914 by John Hinerwadel in North Syracuse NY 13212. They were an accompanyment to the family's clam bakes (Steamed Clams).
As stated in an exerpt from 10/09/02 Syracuse New Times newspaper, "Few people outside Syracuse know of those delightful nuggets invented at the height of the local salt industry: salt potatoes. In fact, salt potatoes are to Syracuse what chicken wings are to Buffalo... It's Syracuse's blue-collar roots that led to the invention of salt potatoes. Local salt workers, many of them Irish, toiling along Solar Street and Onondaga Lake, evaporated salt from water by boiling the brine in large vats. Since the water was hot anyway, they plunked small tubers into the brine for a cheap lunch. Today, no clambake would be complete without a half-dozen or so salt potatoes, accompanied by butter for dipping. It's no accident that Hinerwadel's, that North Syracuse home of sumptuous clambakes, packages salt potatoes in five-pound bags for sale in grocery stores to be enjoyed at home."
