The Irish Lumper is a varietal white
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
of historic interest. It has been identified as the variety of potato whose widespread cultivation throughout
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, prior to the 1840s, is implicated in the
Irish Great Famine in which an estimated 1 million died.
Agricultural features
The 'Irish Lumper' is noted for its ability to flourish on
garden beds that are poor in nutrients, wet-footed, or both. Until the 1840s, it was closely adapted to growing conditions in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, particularly
western Ireland
The West is a strategic planning area within the Northern and Western Region in Ireland. It is a NUTS Level III statistical region of Ireland (coded IE042) under the Eurostat classification. It consists of the counties of Galway, Mayo and R ...
. The
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Ireland noted that the Lumper was a "very old variety, and ... probably well known when first recorded by Dutton (1808) in his Agricultural Survey of County Clare. ... It was described by Andrews (1835) as a 'coarse species' and was recommended by Howden (1837) as stock feed due to its enormous yield."
In the 1840s, infestations of ''
Phytophthora infestans
''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by '' Alternaria solani'', is also often called "p ...
'' devastated a series of potato harvests, leading to widespread
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompani ...
and
emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanent ...
. The cumulative effects of both catastrophes, exacerbated by British rule,
lowered Ireland's total population by approximately 2 million, of which approximately 1 million were fatalities.
After almost disappearing from cultivation, the 'Irish Lumper' was regrown, starting in 2008, by Michael McKillop of
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
for harvest sale as an
heirloom variety
An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, heritage fruit (Australia and New Zealand), or heirloom vegetable (especially in Ireland and the UK) is an old cultivar of a plant used for food that is grown and maintained by gardeners and farmers, particular ...
.
Culinary use
The 'Irish Lumper' has been characterized as a "wet, nasty, knobbly old potato". Its texture upon boiling is described as more "waxy" than "floury", indicating a starch content on the lower side of that typical for white potatoes.
Educational use
Schools in Ireland are starting to cultivate the Irish Lumper as a project of historical education. They are cultivated in
raised garden beds, in the pattern of the 1840s.
References
{{Irish cuisine
Potato cultivars
Great Famine (Ireland)
Irish cuisine
Food and drink in Ireland