Irish potato

noun I-rish po-TA-to ˈaɪrɪʃ poˈteːto

Also spelled irish, english potato

The ordinary white potato — called 'Irish potato', or just 'Irish', in Jamaica to tell it apart from the sweet potato, which is the default 'potato' in local usage. A common ingredient in soups, stews, salads, and curries, the Irish potato is the imported temperate spud set against the homegrown sweet potato, and the two are carefully distinguished in the kitchen and the market. To ask for 'Irish' is to ask for the white potato, and 'potato' alone usually means the sweet one.

  • Peel di Irish potato fi put inna di soup.

    Peel the Irish potatoes to put in the soup.

  • Mi prefer sweet potato ova Irish potato.

    I prefer sweet potato over regular potato.

  • Buy a pound a Irish fi di potato salad.

    Buy a pound of white potato for the potato salad.

'Irish potato' distinguishes the white/European potato (associated with Ireland) from the sweet potato, which in Jamaica is the unmarked 'potato'.

Note the reversal from foreign usage: in Jamaica 'potato' alone usually means sweet potato, so the white one gets the qualifier 'Irish'.