Copius
Bonnotte de Noirmoutier, drawn for Copius

Bonnotte de Noirmoutier

Bonnotte de Noirmoutier

Latin nameSolanum tuberosum
FamilyVegetables
OriginÎle de Noirmoutier, Vendée
Season (France)May
FlavourSalty · Buttery · Delicate
Typical price (France)15–40 €/kg

What it is

It is planted around Candlemas in island sand dressed with seaweed hauled off the beaches, and lifted by hand between the eighth and the twentieth of May. Mechanisation killed the crop in the 1960s and it was brought back in the 1990s with help from INRA, after which a charity auction briefly made it the most expensive potato in France.

In the kitchen

Do not peel and do not soak: the saline note sits in and just under the skin. Steam eight to ten minutes and finish in butter with fleur de sel — boiling in salted water is redundant and washes the flavour out.

Goes with

Churned butter Fleur de sel de Guérande Chives Sea bass Brown crab Parsley Olive oil

Same species

Bintje potato Black Krim tomato Chuño Datterino tomato Eggplant Green tomato

In season alongside

Halibut Whitefish (féra)

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us