bintje

medium-early potato variety

After Bintje Jansma (Suameer, Friesland 1888 Franeker 1976).

As a child, Bintje was in class with master Kornelis Lieuwes de Vries in Suameer, Friesland. Commissioned by the Friesche Maatschappij van Landbouw, the master experimented with cultivating new potato varieties. This resulted in about 125 usable varieties in a quarter of a century. His students were able to enjoy his hobby. A former student: 'Potato plants bloomed on the windowsills of the classroom instead of fuchsias and geraniums.'

The school garden served as a test field. During the lesson, the master could therefore keep an eye on his crops. The only problem was that he also had to name all those breeds.

Initially he took the name of his children, sometimes famous people, later that of students in the class such as Sipke, Trijntje and Cato.

In 1905, he discovered the potato he had always dreamed of – 'large in size, good in taste, easy to cook and didn't crumble' – and named it after Bintje, then the most industrious girl in the class.

The potato was put on the market in 1910 and became the most successful Western European potato of the twentieth century. Little is known about Bintje's life.

She married a certain Pebesma and died in 1976 in the rest home Nieuw-Klaarkamp in Franeker, Friesland. According to the legend, she didn't like her bintjes very much. A school and a street were later named after master De Vries in Suameer.

Bintje is a typical Frisian first name that belongs in the list of Benske, Binske, Bints and Bintske. According to the Van der Schaar pronoun dictionary derived from Benno.