40% of all potatoes in Germany come from Lueneburg Heath.
Everyone loves the "terrific tuber": in fact, Germany consumes more than 60 kg of potatoes per person and year. That includes the many variations of potato products such as chips, crisps and dumplings.
Germany’s farmers alone pluck round 11 million tonnes of potatoes from the earth each year. Nearly every other potatocomes from Lower Saxony.
The"Lueneburg Heath” potato is world-famous and very popular throughoutGermany. It is healthy and contains a lot of potassium, vitamins and protein.
Cultivatingpotatoes is an old tradition on Lueneburg Heath. The region became the largestpotato-growing area in Germany back in the middle of the 19th century.
“Heath potatoes”have a supra-regional significance as an “especially tasty regionalspeciality”. Heath potatoes grow especially well on Lueneburg Heath because ofthe sandy earth.
The EU Commissionadded the heath potato to the list of geographically protected foodstuffs on 4August 2010 so that consumers can rest assured they have purchased the bestquality potato.
Only producers inthe Lueneburg Heath region are permitted to use the designation “LueneburgHeath Potatoes”.
The list of around900 products also includes Black Forest ham, Swabian ravioli, Cologne beer(Koelsch), Luebeck marzipan and Nuremberg gingerbread.
Many holidaymakerstake a couple of sacks of “heath potatoes” with them when they go home. Youwill soon be able to find heath potatoes in your local supermarket and enjoythem while recalling your holiday on Lueneburg Heath thanks to the protectiongranted by the EU.
