If you’ve been to upstate New York and eaten your fill of regional cuisine, you’ve probably eaten Syracuse salt potatoes. The salty spuds are ubiquitous at fairs, barbecues, and clambakes. In other words, if there’s an event with food and cheer, there will be salt potatoes.
Salt potatoes may be simple to prepare, but they have a rich history. They’re an immigrant food created by the Irish, born during a time of great change in the United States. Read on to find out how salt potatoes came about and the impact they made on upstate New York.
What Are Syracuse Salt Potatoes?
For more than a century, Syracuse, N.Y., has been known as Salt City, says Chuck D’Imperio, author of “A Taste of Upstate New York: The People and the Stories Behind 40 Food Favorites.” Syracuse was built around Onondaga Lake, which is home to several brine springs, or salt springs. In the late 18th century, British colonists mined the salt from these springs (through evaporation and boiling), and over the next few decades, the area was increasingly industrialized.
At the same time, a huge influx of Irish immigrants arrived in New York and ended up working on the Erie Canal, which passed through Syracuse (the modern Erie Canal, however, now runs south of the city). With available work, many Irish immigrants made their way to Syracuse and became salt producers…