i never heard of champ potatoes when i was young, but i had them for my first time in belfast a few years ago and i was hooked.
now, since there's so few ingredients, the success of the dish depends on the quality of the spuds and the type of green onions used, and of course fresh butter and cream.
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you can grow."spring" or young onions almost all year in most of ireland, so there's slight seasonal changes. but boring ol' relatively tasteless scallions don't cut it.
they should be sweet but also with that "green" taste.
and of course, loads of fresh irish butter and cream doesn't hurt.
btw, jenny, to be sure both champ and colcannon are irish.