20 years ago, I was driving the back roads of Lancaster County PA with my new wife one Sunday and came across an Amish stand selling potatoes. They were a little expensive and we were poor, but they looked unlike any we’d seen before so we bought a small bag.
That night we boiled them for dinner. The taste was cheesy, creamy, and unlike anything I had ever tasted before. They were the best potatoes I had ever tasted. Within seconds, my wife and I both blurted out that we had to head back next weekend and buy more.
We passed evenings that week with maps trying to figure out where we had been, and the next Saturday headed back out. We spent a day trying to retrace our route, but never found the road or stand.
We are now affluent middle-agers living down South, but a few times a year we still talk about taking a trip to scour Lancaster County for the Amish potatoes.
I mean… I can just go back. I buy all my eggs, cream, and most of my produce there. But I really need to know what variety of potatoes you got, because they have several kinds.
Yeah, this Amish community has good prices. Potatoes were $8 a bag though, which seemed steep.
20 years ago, I was driving the back roads of Lancaster County PA with my new wife one Sunday and came across an Amish stand selling potatoes. They were a little expensive and we were poor, but they looked unlike any we’d seen before so we bought a small bag.
That night we boiled them for dinner. The taste was cheesy, creamy, and unlike anything I had ever tasted before. They were the best potatoes I had ever tasted. Within seconds, my wife and I both blurted out that we had to head back next weekend and buy more.
We passed evenings that week with maps trying to figure out where we had been, and the next Saturday headed back out. We spent a day trying to retrace our route, but never found the road or stand.
We are now affluent middle-agers living down South, but a few times a year we still talk about taking a trip to scour Lancaster County for the Amish potatoes.
You fucked up.
I mean… I can just go back. I buy all my eggs, cream, and most of my produce there. But I really need to know what variety of potatoes you got, because they have several kinds.
If I knew that, I’d have them growing in my backyard.
I went as far as taking a trip to Seed Savers in Decorah, IA to quiz them. They knew of no such varietal. It is clearly an Amish heirloom.
Are you in PA? I’ve had Mennonite potatoes in ON and MN. They weren’t the same.
Nay. Aroostook county, Maine.
I was up in Presque Isle about three years ago. Decent town. I think I ate the the Governor’s location there.
If you were in PA, I’d give you the general areas so you could try to hunt down my white whale potatoes.
If you ever get back to the area, save one or two of the smaller potatoes and plant them. Then you’ll have your own supply.
I had plans to go this year to visit friends, but they moved to San Francisco before harvest season. Very inconsiderate of them.