Celebration of the humble spud

VERSATILE, healthy (unless fried!), and available in abundance all year round - the Irish potato is celebrated in the next episode of Home Grown on RTÉ1 on Monday at 8pm.

Colm O’Driscoll starts the programme with a visit to specialist farmer David Loughran, from Louth, who provides seed potatoes for other farmers to plant.

Kitty Scully and Colm also visit the World Potato Congress, which was held in Dublin this year, where they meet some of the world’s potato experts.

Kitty heads to Slaney Farms in Enniscorthy, and sees how oddly shaped potatoes that are rejected by supermarkets are made into delicious Irish Jackford’s Gin by Wexford farmer Ed Tobin.

In Kilkenny, Kitty discovers how O’Shea Farms became the first supplier and distributor of Irish-grown potatoes dedicated to Irish chip shops.

Colm then goes back in time to Muckross Traditional Farm in Killarney National Park, to see how potatoes were grown in the traditional way – and to learn about Poitín.