Potato Varieties For Every Garden

Few garden tasks are as satisfying as harvesting fresh, delectable potatoes from your own garden. Select the variety that meets your cooking requirements best.

When baking, frying or boiling potatoes for baking purposes, opt for high starch varieties that maintain their shape well. When selecting potatoes for salads or au gratin dishes, select low starch varieties with tender textures instead.

Papa Criolla

Colombian Creole potatoes (papas criollas or papitas criollas), are an absolute treat. Packed full of creamy goodness, these rich yet simple recipes can often be found at Colombian steakhouses – yet all it requires are just a few ingredients and spices!

These diploid potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) have day neutral or intermediate photoperiod characteristics and produce tubers in summer after spring planting. Their small potatoes feature deep yellow flesh that is ideal for fresh eating but they may also be frozen or canned for later consumption. Ideal for high altitude cultivation and quick harvest times with reasonable dormancy in case they’re left to reach full senescence, these varieties make great additions to high altitude gardens.

The Phureja variety boasts high carotenoid levels and unique flavor characteristics, making it an excellent option for specialty markets (like those featuring intense yellow-flesh potatoes, such as “Beaueraguard”) due to their distinct color, flavor, and texture. They may also serve as a tasty replacement for sweet potatoes in baked dishes, mashed or roasted applications.

Research related to native potato varieties has focused mainly on their morphological and genetic variation, evaluation of their agroindustrial potential and biological functionality as well as interactions with indigenous communities [11-16]. Yet very little research exists regarding their interactions. This study explored their interactions by conducting semi-structured interviews and dialogues in Chiscas municipality of central-eastern Colombia using semi-structured interviews and dialogues, indexes of relative importance and value were calculated which showed these varieties are part of its agricultural cosmovision.

La Ratte

La Ratte is an iconic French potato that brings images of chestnuts and hazelnuts to mind with its buttery flesh, delicate skin protecting a complex array of flavors that makes this gourmet heirloom a beloved culinary staple. Popular among chefs as well as home cooks alike, La Ratte makes an exceptional heirloom potato that excels when sauteed, gratineed, mashed or roasted, its exceptional flavors complimented by firm texture that holds together well after being cooked.

This variety is native to Denmark and France and was first cultivated during the 19th Century before nearly disappearing due to degeneration of seed. A farmer later brought back this variety, which quickly became popular with high-end chefs such as Joel Robuchon who used it in creating his signature pomme puree dish.

Thomas Keller and Charlie Trotter are among the many high-end chefs who regularly use La Ratte potatoes, even though their tendency to turn into puree quickly makes for sticky purees. Yet La Ratte still manages to capture many chefs due to its unique flavor and texture.

La Ratte may be hard to come by in the United States, but it’s well worth seeking out for its distinctive flavor and texture. Keep an eye out at specialty markets or farmers’ markets when its season arrives; otherwise try one of Gordon Ramsay’s classic French recipes like Rack of Lamb with La Ratte and Mashed Potatoes as a starter step!

Kerr’s Pink

Kerr’s Pink potatoes feature oval shapes with light pink skins and smooth, finely-textured flesh that holds its shape well when cooked roasted, steamed or mashed. Their quick cooking makes them ideal choices for soups, stews and casseroles while the skin should usually remain on while preparing them to retain nutrients and add flavor.

Kerr’s Pink are often used in Ireland to prepare boxty, a traditional potato pancake made of flour mixed with grated and mashed potatoes as well as baking soda to form a flatbread-like pancake that can then be cooked on a griddle – it’s popular breakfast, snack or dinner item in Ireland!

Kerr’s Pink has the same earthy flavor found in other yellow-fleshed varieties like Yukon Gold and Kennebec that makes them great additions to many dishes, from roasting or steaming them into French Fries to mashing or cutting into chips.

This main crop seed potato boasts outstanding blight resistance and storage ability. For optimal results, it should be planted early in spring when soil temperatures have warmed, as it matures quickly to be harvested around mid-August.

Adirondack Blue

Yellow potatoes may be the go-to choice, but there are numerous other varieties with unique flavors and textures, including Adirondack blue potatoes with their blue skin and flesh. Adirondack blue potatoes make a fantastic versatile potato for roasting, baking, salads or mashing; according to Johnny’s Selected Seeds they retain their color well after being cooked!

Adirondack blue potatoes are packed with antioxidants that can protect against heart disease and cancer, providing essential vitamin C, potassium and fiber intake for overall good health. In particular, anthocyanins present in their purple hue are known to improve cardiovascular wellbeing while decreasing chronic disease risk factors.

Adirondack Blue Potato Variety is an extra-late maturing cultivar with medium to large tubers that has moderate resistance to late blight, scab, and soft rot. While not easily found in grocery stores, you can purchase Adirondack blue seed potatoes online from several retailers such as Wood Prairie Family Farms for one to 45 pound quantities at prices ranging between $15-135 each – though these seed potatoes might not make great snacks themselves! Instead, use them to grow a delicious new crop that will amaze and excite all who encounter it!

Adirondack Red

Reworking of the classic red variety, this cultivar features an oblong shape with purplish-red skin and mottled pinkish/red flesh that fades slightly when cooked, for an enjoyable tuber that offers moist texture post-cooking and rich potato flavor. Proven market table favorites as well as great choices for home gardens alike – don’t miss this cultivar when planting potatoes this fall!

Cornell University potato breeders Robert Plaisted, Ken Paddock and Walter De Jong developed and released Adirondack Red as a variety in 2004. Like its red potato counterparts, Adirondack Red can be used for all manner of culinary applications; mashing works particularly well and it can even be combined with other colored potatoes in dishes like red-white-blue potato salad.

Adirondack Red potatoes may contain many essential nutrients, but they’re not considered keto-friendly due to their high net carb content – one 100-gram serving contains 14.2 grams of net carbohydrates which could interfere with ketosis – essential to ketogenic diet success.

However, you can still experience the rich flavors and textures of Adirondack Red potatoes while remaining on a ketogenic diet with cauliflower, turnips, zucchini or celeriac as alternatives. These low-carb veggies offer similar textures and tastes allowing you to maintain your favorite meals while adhering to keto. For more information about keto diet basics read The Basics of Keto Diet

Russet Burbank

Luther Burbank of American botany fame created the Russet Burbank potato as an antidote to Ireland’s mid-19th-century potato blight, making it the dominant variety in America and restaurants alike. Famed for its distinctive russeting (a fine, sandpaper-like exterior texture), this long cylindrical variety boasts light floury interior with subtle yet earthy flavors.

Russet Burbank potatoes are highly adaptable. Offering an earthy yet mild flavor, this versatile variety is great for baking, mashing and creating crispy fries or potato chips – not to mention serving as the basis of soups and salads!

Due to their versatility, there have been many other varieties developed based on specific cooking styles or characteristics. For instance, an early-maturing Blazer Russet is similar to Russet Burbank but with longer storage life; making it perfect for stews and soups as well as baking beautifully.

Other varieties that excel in certain applications include the Ranger Russet, which produces crispier and lighter fries than its Russet Burbank counterpart due to a lower sugar content, while Umatilla Russet from researchers at Idaho State University and USDA is an ideal option for French Fries due to having lower concentrations of solids (the starchy portions) which means it doesn’t absorb excess oil.