Every city has it’s local delicacy. My hometown has salt potatoes. No summer picnic, barbecue, or event is complete without them.

And what, you may ask, are salt potatoes?

They a small, new potatoes boiled in highly salted water and served drenched in melted butter.

And how did this divine creation come to be?

In the late 1800’s Syracuse was the American capitol of salt mining. (Which is why I often wonder if the term “back to the salt mines” is universal or something local.) Syracuse is still called “The Salt City.” Salt was “mined” by boiling off the water from the salt-water marshes around Onondaga Lake. The Irish workers would bring their substandard, undersized potatoes and boil them in salted water for their lunches.

This is why I named my fictional baseball team, the Syracuse Saltboilers.

There you have it.

P.S. The next Syracuse Saltboilers romance comes out on July 26.