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LIFE IN FUERTEVENTURA
Papas arrugadas : simplicity and delicacy
Mar
Much of the pleasure of traveling is found in gastronomy. Discovering the local cuisine and tasting some of its delicacies, both in notable restaurants and in simpler ones, allows us to learn more about the destination to which we are traveling. Gastronomy is on the rise. There is no city worth its salt that does not organize meetings, or tapas routes.
Fuerteventura offers is wide and varied gastronomy. Fish, meat, avant-garde cuisine, and a good number of restaurants that you will find on this island. If there is something that is not lacking in any table, it is the wrinkled potatoes accompanied with mojo.
Potatoes.
Potatoes, as everyone knows, come from America. They arrived late to the Canary Islands, in the middle of the 18th century.
The climate and the Canarian volcanic lands make this tuber feel at home, as if it were rooted in the deep Andean regions.
The geographic isolation of the archipelago has ensured that various varieties of potatoes survive here, unique in the world and with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), such as old Canarian potatoes, pretty potatoes or black potatoes.
Origin of wrinkled potatoes.
The simplicity of the preparation of papas arrugadas (unpeeled potatoes, boiled in water with a lot of salt), is not incompatible with its flavor. They are an excellent accompaniment to meat and fish. It has been an essential food in Canarian gastronomy for centuries, present in the kitchens of all social classes.
The origin of the potatoes being cooked in this way is closely related to the food that the “mariantes” ate in summer.
The mariantes were, in general, farmers from the high areas of the islands, who in summer, camped for a couple of months on the coast, after the harvest. They did it both to fish and to collect different types of seafood. They also used to collect salt from natural cookers. The potato is a food that lasts well for a long time, inexpensive, easy to transport, and, together with gofio, almost the only source of carbohydrates that they ate during the summer.
Due to the shortage of fresh water, potatoes will begin to be cooked in this very particular way. They were boiled with skin because they knew that this tuber would only take the necessary salt, and they would not be salty.
The potatoes were put in a container with plenty of sea water. The container was placed on some coals while the mariants carried out their work. After a few hours the heat from the embers had already done its job, boiling the potatoes and evaporating all the water, leaving the potatoes wrinkled, with that characteristic whitish color.
The custom of cooking potatoes with seawater or abundant salt, moved to their places of residence, to the fields and, later, to the towns and cities.
The world discovers wrinkled potatoes.
Canarias was always proud of its wrinkled potatoes. With this delicacy travelers, tourists, and notable literati who visited the islands were entertained. Also to kings. However, sometimes these gifts were not well understood by those who received them. To many illustrious people it seemed rude to put “boiled potatoes with skin” in meals. Not that we were poor! thought more of a refined diner. -What a shame, closed minds! Anyway….
Until the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th, wrinkled potatoes did not have that name and the only thing that people who ate them could do was describe them. They came to call them “hairy potatoes” or “hairdressing potatoes”, to differentiate them from potatoes without skin, “peeled potatoes.”
For example, Gouffés the ex-chef of the Paris Jockey Club in the late 19th century described wrinkled potatoes like this:
(…) And the new hairdresser potatoes kneaded and sprinkled with salt; and, if this is accompanied by a bowl of mojo picón, (…)
In 1888, the tenor Roberto Stagno made a stopover in Las Palmas. This circumstance was taken advantage of by the authorities so that the lyricist took a good memory of the island. Both the tenor and his company were invited to the Fonda Ojeda, to taste our typical wrinkled potatoes.
In 1905, the name “wrinkled potatoes” appeared in the written press. The following excerpt is from the daily La Opinion of November 4, 1905
(…) And fresh or salted fish already stewed with mojo sauce and wrinkled potatoes.
King Alfonso XIII visited the Canary Islands in 1906. During his stay there were no shortage of wrinkled potatoes and mojo at meals. His visit was reflected in a popular romance Alfonso XIII said:
“For me, the Canary Islands is superior.”
In the Canary Islands I have eaten a good sancocho,
and they kneaded me a pella gofio
In Tenerife they gave me some chicharros
and little wrinkled potatoes as a nice treat.
In the second decade of the 20th century, wrinkled potatoes became a claim of food houses. The Tenerife Clemente Ventura restaurant advertised, for years, its menu, in which it put “Old fresh with papas arrugadas” in a prominent place as a typical dish.
Since then, wrinkled potatoes have become very popular for everyone who visits the Canary Islands. In 2016, wrinkled potatoes were positioned as one of the 7 gastronomic wonders of Spain, through a virtual poll of more than 70,000 votes. The idea was to present a candidacy to UNESCO for Spanish gastronomy to be declared Intangible Heritage, as are Japanese, Mexican or French cuisine.
Papas arrugadas recipe
- Wash the new potatoes and place them in the pot.
- Fill a saucepan with water until it is covered, letting it rise slightly.
- Add plenty of salt – 1/4 of a kilo of al for each kilo of potatoes.
- Put the container on the fire until the potatoes are tender.
- Remove from the heat and drain the water without removing them from the container
- In the Canary Islands it is typical to save that brine to make wrinkled potatoes again
- Once drained they are put back on the fire. Sprinkle with a handful of salt and move the cauldron so that they do not stick.
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