Most expensive potato sold at auction

The most expensive potato is an exclusive variety of potato bonnottes de Noirmoutier, grown on the island of Noirmoutier, off the west coast of France, which were sold at auction in Paris, France, for £2,000 ($3,050) in April 1996. Grown in a special soil mixed with seaweed, only 20 tons were produced that year. The successful bidder took 4.5 kg (10 lb) of potatoes home with him, worth approximately £33 ($50) each. From http://www.labonnottedenoirmoutier.com/ : In 1995, the first auction at the MIN of Nantes allowed to give the Bonnotte of Noirmoutier the title of the Most Expensive Potato in the World as it was auctioned off for 265 FRF per kilogram (40.40 euros). A year later, at the auction organized at the famous Hôtel Drouot in Paris, this record burst out to reach the exceptional price of 3,000 FRF per kilogram, i.e. 457.34 euros. All the benefits of this auction were offered to the Charity Association "Les restaurants du Cœur" by the Noirmoutier Farmer's Cooperative. The Bonnotte is a 'primeur' (early) potato: it is harvested before maturity which gives it its fluffy aspect due to the thinness of its skin. The Bonnotte is the most ancient 'primeur' potato grown on the Isle. As early as the first week of May it launches the marketing campaign of Noirmoutier 'primeur' potatoes. ---- Planted at Candlemas on February, 2, on a bed of wracks, it is harvested at the top of its taste 90 days later. Every year, because of its small production amount, the Bonnotte is auctioned off on one day. Most of the time, when the weather conditions allow it, it takes place the first Friday of May. That is the reason why it is called ' the one-day potato'. As a 'primeur' and fresh product it should be enjoyed within the five days that follow its grubbing to allow the consumer to appreciate all its flavors and its strong chestnut taste. The secret of this exceptional sweet and iodized taste comes from the traditional growing method used by the cultivators of Noirmoutier. A soil of good quality enriched with wrack seaweed, an exceptional micro climate and the unique know-how of the traditional cultivators of Noirmoutier make the 'primeur' potato the flagship of the Isle's agriculture. "In October we go and pick some wracks on the coast and we spread them on the fields. All the winter long the seaweed dissolves and gives the soil this so typical iodized taste, in addition, with all the spindrift that sprinkles us, the smell of the sea is everywhere. The plant smells it too." explains Paul-Louis Gendron, cultivator on the Isle of Noirmoutier.