Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh landed at Dover with the first potato plant in 1586 it's been a tradition in Kent to give the one you love a young plant or tuber to grow on The person receiving the potato should nurture it carefully and try to produce a crop by Midsummer's Day (June the 21st) The harvesting date used to be Michaelmas (September the 29th) but after the blight took hold it was decided that Midsummer would be a better harvesting date to aim for, even if it only produced small new potatoes. The grower should then prepare a dish of the potatoes for their partner, covered only in butter and garnished with salt and mint. If the dish was not prepared and presented, the other half could legally strike their partner with a kitchen implement, usually a skillet made of cast iron, and then file for divorce on the grounds of poor husbandry. It was far safer and easier to grow the potato and cook the dish
