P
Spanish · Canary Islands
Papas arrugadas con mojo: Canary Islands salt-wrinkled potatoes
The defining preparation of the Canary Islands — small, whole potatoes (Canarian varieties: Bonita, Negra, Papa Bonita, or Yema de huevo) boiled in an extraordinary concentration of sea salt until all the water evaporates and the salt crystallises on the skin as white wrinkles. Served with two mojos: mojo rojo (red chilli, garlic, cumin, vinegar) and mojo verde (green — coriander or parsley, garlic, cumin, vinegar, olive oil). The technique is one of the simplest and most distinctive in the Iberian world: not about elaborate cooking but about the correct salt concentration (the water should be as salty as the sea, approximately 35-40g per litre) and the crucial last stage where the water is completely driven off, leaving only crystallised salt on the potato skin.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
800 g
small waxy potatoes
Canarian Bonita, Negra, Papa Bonita or Yema de huevo; substitute small blue or purple fingerling, unpeeled
Origin · FranceLekker · Vancouver →
35–40 g per litre of water
coarse sea salt
enough to make the water as salty as the sea
Your own market
For the mojo rojo
2–3
dried guindilla chillies
or similar dried red chilli
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
garlic cloves
peeled
Your own market
1 tsp
ground cumin
Your own market
1 tsp
sweet pimentón
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 tbsp
red wine vinegar
Your own market
100 ml
olive oil
Your own market
For the mojo verde
1 small bunch
fresh coriander
or flat-leaf parsley; Canarian tradition favours coriander
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
3
garlic cloves
peeled
Your own market
1 tsp
ground cumin
Your own market
2 tbsp
white wine vinegar
Your own market
100 ml
olive oil
Your own market
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Make the mojo rojo. Soak the dried guindilla chillies briefly in warm water to soften, then drain. Blend with the garlic, cumin, pimentón, vinegar and olive oil to a smooth, slightly thick sauce. Season with salt. Make the mojo verde by blending the fresh coriander (or parsley), garlic, cumin, vinegar and olive oil to an equally smooth sauce. Both mojos improve if made a day ahead and left covered at room temperature until serving.
2
Place the unpeeled potatoes in a single pot and cover completely with cold water. Add salt at 35–40 g per litre — the water must taste as salty as the sea. Bring to the boil and cook until the potatoes are fully tender throughout.
3
This is where the dish lives or dies. Drain the pot entirely, return the potatoes to the dry hot pot over a medium flame, and shake the pot continuously for 2–3 minutes. The residual water must evaporate completely: the skins will wrinkle, shrink and turn dry, and a visible white crust of crystallised salt will form on the surface of each potato.
4
Serve immediately, unpeeled, with both mojos presented alongside. The red-green contrast is traditional; together the two sauces balance each other.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Authenticated Canarian heritage variety — Bonita, Negra, Papa Bonita or Yema de huevo — grown on volcanic soils at altitude in the Canary Islands, where they are protected; hand-harvested salt from the Canarian salinas.
02
Estate — Small, dark-skinned waxy fingerling potatoes (blue or purple varieties) from a named grower; unrefined Atlantic sea salt at the correct concentration.
03
Market — The smallest waxy-variety potatoes available at market, thin-skinned and dense; good-quality coarse sea salt; both mojos made from scratch the day before.
04
House — Any small waxy potato (not floury); table sea salt in the correct proportion; both mojos blended and served the same day.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A skewer or knife tip meets no resistance at the centre of the largest potato — they are fully tender before draining.
◇Sight. The skins visibly wrinkle and contract during dry-shaking; white crystalline salt appears on the surface of each potato.
◇Sound. The shaking pot produces a dry, papery rattle rather than a wet slap — indicating all water has evaporated.
◇Sight. Both mojos present as smooth, slightly thick sauces — the rojo a deep brick-red, the verde a vivid herb-green.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish stands or falls in the final dry-shaking stage: the water must be driven off entirely so that the salt crystallises as white dust on each wrinkled skin — any residual moisture leaves wet, uncrusted potatoes and the technique is lost.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Fortified wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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