The Irish Lumper is a varietal white

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

of historic interest. It has been identified as the variety of potato whose widespread cultivation throughout

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, prior to the 1840s, is implicated in the Irish Great Famine in which an estimated one 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

, particularly western Ireland. 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 Oomycete, 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 c ...

'' devastated a series of potato harvests, leading to widespread

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...

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 permanentl ...

. The cumulative effects of both catastrophes, exacerbated by British rule, lowered Ireland's total population by approximately two million, of which approximately one 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, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

for harvest sale as an heirloom variety.

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