POTSDAM, Germany (AP) — Generations of Germans imagine Frederick the Nice introduced the beloved potato to Germany.
The legend is that this: King Frederick II of Prussia wished his topics to eat potatoes, launched to Europe within the sixteenth century from South America. However the individuals of Prussia, which later grew to become a part of a united Germany, wouldn’t contact the tuber.
So the 18th-century monarch resorted to trickery. He positioned royal guards and troopers alongside the sting of his palace backyard — thus creating the phantasm that potatoes had been a uncommon and invaluable crop reserved for the royal household and its aristocratic mates. However the guards withdrew from their posts every evening, creating a chance for enterprising locals to sneak in and “steal” the spuds.
Thus started Germany’s love affair with the common-or-garden Kartoffel and Frederick’s rebranding as Der Kartoffelkönig, the potato king.
Besides it’s all faux. Bogus. Phony. Falsch! because the Germans would say.
And debunking it’s a royal ache for Jürgen Luh, historian of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Basis, even when historical past has receipts. Archives of royal menus present the king as a substitute had a penchant for Italian meals and French wine.
“He by no means ate it,” Luh mentioned. “Any potato. Not boiled, not fried.”
The unexciting fact is that the potato has been cultivated in Germany’s Bavarian area since 1647, Luh mentioned. Frederick’s great-grandfather, Elector Frederick William, launched it to the Brandenburg space of Prussia within the 1650s, however solely as a result of he preferred the aesthetics of the plant’s leafy greens.
By the point Frederick the Nice took the throne in 1740, the potato was grown in gardens all through Prussia however not on a big scale. The king did really subject royal decrees selling the farming and manufacturing of potatoes, however his individuals ignored them. Potatoes didn’t turn out to be widespread in Prussia, in central and japanese Europe, till after the Napoleonic wars resulted in 1815, after Frederick II’s loss of life in 1786.
Jürgen Luh, historian of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Basis, poses for a portrait in entrance of King Frederick II of Prussia summer season residence Sanssouci Palace, in Potsdam, Germany, June 17, 2025. (AP Picture/Markus Schreiber)
The guarded backyard story, Luh mentioned, is nonsense. And Frederick was extra of a wannabe potato king than an precise one.
However the fable has deep roots, and the parable makes cash.
To this present day, guests to Frederick’s summer season residence of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, exterior Berlin, go away uncooked potatoes and paper crowns on the king’s grave. The palace’s reward retailers promote potato merchandise, from postcards and kids’s books to a 35-euro ($40) apron proclaiming the wearer as a Kartoffelkönig.
Luh used to right tour guides and guests to the palace, however he’s largely given up. Apart from, he mentioned, not less than it means individuals are coming to Sanssouci and experiencing its wealthy historical past.
“The actual fact is that the legend has overwhelmed the reality and the legend is simply too stunning,” he added.
No matter its roots, the potato is undeniably a part of the German cultural identification. At Biohof Schöneiche, an natural farm exterior Berlin, staff will harvest roughly 2,500 metric tons (5.5 million kilos) of potatoes come the annual September harvest.
“In most elements of the world, potatoes are thought of a vegetable. In Germany it’s a staple meals,” normal supervisor Axel Boehme mentioned. “Folks can not think about to have a meal with out potatoes.”
Regional recipes, handed down from each Oma (grandmother) to every new era, debate the deserves of a vinegar- or mayo-based Kartoffelsalat. From boiled (Salzkartoffeln) or pan-fried (Bratkartoffeln) to dumplings and pancakes (Kartoffelklösse and Kartoffelpuffer), the versatile vegetable is intertwined with the nation’s emotional heritage.
A girl takes a photograph of herself as she locations a potato on the grave stone of King Frederick II of Prussia, within the park of Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, Germany, June 17, 2025. (AP Picture/Markus Schreiber)
Anke Schoenfelder, mission supervisor for German potato advertising and marketing firm Kartoffel-Advertising and marketing GmbH, says her favourite tuber custom is rooted in making Kartoffel-Karotten-Gugelhupf (potato and carrot Bundt cake) for household gatherings.
“Style is reminiscence, proper? And when that is associated to your loved ones, that is much more a part of your identification,” she mentioned.
Plus, Schoenfelder added, the potato can be utilized as a magnificence product — the juice might be good on your pores and skin, she says — or a family cleaner, for cussed stains on the underside of your oven.
For now, Der Kartoffelkönig’s legend lives on. As Luh was chatting with The Related Press in entrance of the king’s grave, two vacationers positioned their choices of potatoes on the tomb. One even took a selfie as she did so.
“I all the time assume I ought to go right here within the night when I’ve no potatoes at residence,” the historian joked. “I might take them away and have a superb meal afterwards.”
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Kartoffel-Karotten-Gugelhupf (potato and carrot Bundt cake)
From Kartoffel-Advertising and marketing GmbH, a German potato advertising and marketing firm. The measurements offered discuss with weight, not quantity. You’ll need a 10-cup Bundt pan.
Time: 90 minutes
Serves: 12
Substances
9 oz (250g) high-starch potatoes (comparable to Russets and Maris Pipers)
9 oz (250g) carrots
1.7 fluid ounces (50 mL) carrot juice
1.7 fluid ounces (50 mL) sunflower oil
4 eggs (medium-size, room temperature)
7 oz (200g) sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
4.5 oz (125g) almonds, floor
4.5 oz (125g) flour
melted butter to grease the mould
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Instructions
Wash the potatoes and boil them in salted water for about 20 to 25 minutes, till tender. Allow them to cool barely, peel them, after which press them by way of a potato ricer right into a bowl.
Wash and peel the carrots and grate them finely with the potatoes, utilizing a vegetable grater or a mandolin.
Generously grease the Bundt pan with oil or butter. Coat the pan with some breadcrumbs.
Preheat oven to 392°F (200°C) on the fan setting.
Add carrot juice, sunflower oil, eggs, vanilla sugar, sugar, flour, baking powder and floor almonds to the mashed potatoes and grated carrots and blend with a hand mixer for about 4 minutes till a dough kinds.
Pour the potato-carrot cake batter into the ready Bundt pan.
Place the pan within the oven and bake for about 50 minutes till cooked by way of (if crucial, cowl the pan with aluminum foil after half an hour to stop the cake from burning).
Let the cake cool fully (you may also do that on a balcony or terrace) earlier than adorning it with icing. That is vital, as a result of in any other case the icing will seep into the cake.
In a bowl, mix the powdered sugar and a bit of lemon juice till thickened. Pour the icing over the cooled cake and beautify along with your most well-liked toppings like chocolate chips, for instance. Let it relaxation a bit to permit the icing to set.