I’m probably the world’s current expert on the term “jojo” as applied to potatoes. Almost certainly they started out life as potato wedges. And, they almost certainly originate as “jojos” in the upper(probably) Midwest. I have a personal interest in that when I moved to Akron OH in 1971, I got some broasted chicken and jojos. Never had them or heard of them before living in Virginia and NC(1950-1970).
I’ll come back when I’m through reading the board in about an hour and give you my info.
I’ve rarely encountered a potato wedge that wasn’t battered, fried, and spiced.
Common usage in Montana for a fried savory potato wedge. Used to make them when I worked at Breen’s Exxon in Choteau, and they were for sale in Rex’s as well.
I was going to go to bed early, now I’m going to wait to hear samclem’s Story of the Jojo 
I don’t know why people keep moving out of NE Ohio these days - it’s such a fascinating place!
Broaster chicken, which is really a pressure-fried chicken, is invented in the early 1950s. At that point, it is mostly distributed in the midwest. That’s a general term and encompasses everything from Iowa/Michigan/Ohio and other stragglers.
The addidtion of “jo jo” potatoes only shows up as a term in the early 1960s. Again, only in the MId-West.
Where the name comes from, I don’t know, but I’m still looking. Once a month in my newspaper databases. And, if I don’t know, probably no one does.
Ah! You’re too easy.
There’s this.
FWIW.
I grew up in Memphis and Mississippi–I remember seeing them in the 70s in Mississippi convenience stores called “jo-jos”. In fact, I just recently purchased, in deep south Texas, a seasoning called “JoJo Potato Seasoning” or “Assaisonnement pour Pomme de Terre de Jojo” (by the Spice Depot), www.alwaysgrindfresh.com
I put this on frozen steak fries (what can I say!).
According to the ingredient list, it includes dehydrated garlic, paprika, salt, rosemary, black pepper, basil, parsley, oregano, and olive oil. So there you go!
For what it’s worth, I have spent a LOT of time in New Orleans, and eaten meals in some of the most upscale, gourmet bistros in town, as well as some of the seediest, funkiest dives around (and had some AMAZING meals in both extremes—It’s quite hard to find truly bad food anywhere in New Orleans, no matter how nondescript the joint you are in) and I have never seen anything even resembling jo-jo potato wedges on any menu on any of my many visits…
In fact, rice of one type or another is MUCH more common as a side than any kind of potato dish is; potatoes are just not seemingly a big part of Southern Louisiana cuisine, from what I can tell.
I’ve had these from various convenience store delis, but they were always called potato wedges. Recently we got some chicken from the deli at Ingles in Carrollton, Ga, and my husband said “Oo, we have to get some of the Jojo’s potatoes, too!” I had never heard the term before, and though that Jojo was the name of the Ingles’ deli lady, or perhaps some member of the Ingles family like Laura Lynn. My husband now tells me he was familiar with the term already.
I can’t speak for Rex’s, but at the gas station, they were indeed pressure fried (as was the chicken, the pizza pockets, the corn dogs, and damn near everything else).
Jojos is the only name that I have heard for potato wedges. As a kid my mom would go to the local tavern (the 2121 in Tacoma) and bring home chicken and jojos for dinner. Included was a sour cream and chive dip for the jojos. Good stuff.
Grew up in MD have lived in NC and FL. Never heard of Jojos in my life. Only heard them called potato wedges.
I could go for some right now, though.
I used to make jojo’s at my deli job back in high school. Unpeeled potato wedges, dredged twice in a mix of flour, pepper, and Lowry’s Seasoning Salt, and deep fried.
Fresh, with dill dip, serious comfort food.
No idea why they were called jojo’s, though.
Down here in North Florida, we call those tater logs.
This is complete nonsense. There is no evidence that the term “jo jo” originated in Europe. Plenty of evidence that it didn’t.
If “Maine farmers of Acadian descent call big, seasoned potato wedges by the same name: jo jos,” then they’re farmers who discovered them by buying broasted chicken in the 1960s or later.
I don’t have all my files around right now, but I’ll look tomorrow night.
Jo Jo potatoes have their origin in the US, in the late 1950s/early 1960s in the general MidWest.
Actually, Chief ‘Seattle’s’ Lushootseed name was Seeatch.
http://www.chiefseattle.com/history/chiefseattle/chief.htm
and the native american name for Seattle was “Little crossing over place”.
I;ve seen JoJo used here in New England occasionally, mostly potato wedges or steak fries. All the same though. I like real french fries (as opposed to the engineered versions), but the big chunks of potato, spiced or not, are very good too. And if you don’t have a deep fryer, baked versions turn out well also.
I just back to the Bay Area from several years in Seattle and Portland, where JoJo’s are ubiquitous and quite tasty. I asked the deli-worker in SF for some of their JoJo’s and she looked at me and said, “Not from around here, are-ya”.
Cracked me up.
[Letterman]Mojo, Jojo, Mojo, Jojo[/letterman]