Jacket potatoes

If ever there was a month made for baked potatoes, it would be December!

The tradition of the takeaway baked or 'jacket' potato can be traced back to the 19th century when they were sold by street traders. You'd see hundreds of men with 'potato cans' across London selling baked potatoes throughout the autumn and winter. "Many gentlefolks buy them in the street, and take them home for supper in their pockets; but the working classes are the greatest purchasers" wrote Henry Mayhew in the 1840s.

Our potatoes are oven-cooked... and, unlike the Victorians, you don't need to take them home in your pockets!