apache potatoes

[WWordsworth Profile]

This year we have in the garden
International kidney
Valor
Charlotte
Estima

And in the meantime I buy Wilja in 12k bags from the farm shop.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Allotments are wonderful, but they do require a significant investment of time. I've not always been able to do it, but love being able to grow food of a type or quality you can't always buy. I grow some flowers for the house but it's mostly edibles.

[Binky Profile]

We got fed up of boiled potatoes going furry or mushy. We want a potato that holds it's shape as well as tasting nice. Neither do we like floury baked potatoes; they have to be firm and moist. Maribel does it for us, but I will look out for Wilja.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

In Peru you get quite a few piebald potatoes, I think it’s a thing spuds tend to do

[Alexandria Profile]

On the Iberian Peninsula & Islands ( there are a total of 11), we have uncountable varieties for different types of dishes:

Baking Potatoes:

Kennebec - used predominately for baking in their jackets in oven.
Spunta
Flamenco

Boiling Potatoes:

Monalisa
Buffet
Jaerla
Red Pontiac ( used in stews and have a floury texture )
Cachuelos (yellow sublime tender)
Pataca de Galicia - used in stews predominately
Patatas de Prades Catalanas - used in stews



Potatoes for Tortilla Española:

Monalisa Alavesa, The Basque Country
Galician Kennebec

Frying Potatoes:
Baraca
Agria
Draga
Felix
Caesar
Nagore
Nuevas Potatoes ( New Potatoes: firm texture, small, smooth and lightly colored are used in Olivier Salad or Russian Salad)

Historic Traditional Potatoes:
Papa Negra
Papa Bonita
Melonera
Borralla
Colorada de Baga
Papas Arugadas ( a potato variety used in The Canary Islands, and is named for the renowned salted potatoes served with Mojo Chili Pepper Dip )

Have a lovely weekend.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

I guess the political history of the New World suggests that Spain would have had access to more varieties of potatoes than elsewhere in Europe. Most of 'our' modern varieties have been bred in the British Isles, many in Scotland and Ireland. (The prefix 'Pentland' is given to spuds bred at the Scottish Pentlandfield plant breeding centre iirc, whereas 'Maris' varieties originated from the institute (formerly?) based at Maris Lane Cambridge.

I believe Charlotte is a French cultivar. Americans use a variety called Russet (you might have heard it mentioned in US food shows) that hasn't really caught on here yet, but watch this space if we sign new trade deals...

It would be interesting to know if some varieties are used in different countries but known under different names, in the same way as some grapes (Grenache/Garnacha, Shiraz/Syrah, Pinot Gris/Grigio and many others)

There's a database of varieties on the AHDB website, but it's aimed at growers rather than cooks.

[Alexandria Profile]

Badger Mate,

I am sure that many our Peruvian ancestral potatoes have "Latin Scientific Names" & correspond to English Names of course as well & are "multi lingual" ..
As potatoes are a basic product too, and used throughout many parts of the world, "the naming process is endless" ..

There are also uncountable tubers in Northwestern Africa, which made their way into Cuba, The Domincan Republic, Puerto Rico, Central & South America, for example:

Yuca also called Casava & Manioc .. Then there is Ñame & Malanga ( they are lesser known in Europe ) however, can be found at the main

Latin Markets, especially in Spain in major cities.

Many products including fish, for example and grapes, as you mentioned have different names depending on locality.

Amberjack (Sicilia & Mallorca & Campania ) is Rubber Lip Grunt Fish in
Caribbean & Mid Atlantic States Waters !

Have a lovely weekend.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

In Britain we don't really associate particular varieties with certain dishes. We do of course cook them in known ways, such as Pink Fir Apple for salads, or new potatoes of various varieties for boiling, but there isn't to my knowledge a classic potato to be used in, for example, Lancashire hotpot or cottage pie.

Does Quineguas mean something in Spanish or is it an attempt to pronounce 'King Edward'?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The scientific Latin for all potatoes is solanum tuberosum, the different varieties are just that, variations like pink roses or red roses are still roses

I got a huge bag of Osprey yesterday for 50p at Morrison’s, a good all rounder, quite similar to Cara in appearance

[Suffs Profile]

In Britain we don't really associate particular varieties with certain dishes. We do of course cook them in known ways, such as Pink Fir Apple for salads, or new potatoes of various varieties for boiling, but there isn't to my knowledge a classic potato to be used in, for example, Lancashire hotpot or cottage pie.

Does Quineguas mean something in Spanish or is it an attempt to pronounce 'King Edward'?

Given the choice I would always choose a dry-fleshed potato such as Maris Piper or King Edwards for roast potatoes, Maris Piper for mash and therefore for Shepherd’s Pie and similarly topped dishes, whereas Id buy a more waxy potato that holds its shape well (such as Desiree) for the topping on a hot pot or for a Dauphinoise- type dish. I do choose the potatoes I buy according to the menu I’m olannjng to cook for the week ahead. Maybe it’s to do with having a potato farmer for a brother

[Binky Profile]

From memory, the potato choice in the US was dire. There was a particular one that had its own registered trade mark, The Idaho potato, which was a huge lump of a thing and ubiquitous in restaurants when you wanted a baked potato with your meal.

All the Americans we knew who came to the UK always commented on the varieties of potato we could get, and how they tasted much nicer than the ones back home.

I found the meaning behind Pentland and Maris really interesting, so thank you for that.

[Alexandria Profile]

Badger Mate,

In the xix Century in the Canary Islands (there are 7 ), some British residents planted King Edward Potatoes there.

However, prior to the xix century, this potato which came from Peru has been called: QUINEGAR OR KINEGUA (in both Peru and The Canary Islands
as our official language is Spanish, as you know) and since the mid 1500s when Pizarro returned from Peru to Spain.

Have a nice weekend.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Oh Binky, the baked Idaho potato

Good texture when baked, but not keen on the flavour, I was served one the size of a baby’s head with 2x 2oz pats of butter and a jug of soured cream

This was as a side dish to a chicken fried steak the size of a dinner plate - that’s a thin steak breaded and fried like chicken (or schnitzel) not a steak cooked by a hen.

I did have some nice food in that hotel - specially Sunday brunch, which I think was pretty good anyway, but chef decided that as he’d caught a bona fide foodie I had to be cooked each of his specialities fresh just for me! This was in N Carolina, he was a local of Chinese heritage, the Chinese influence crept in there.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Id buy a more waxy potato that holds its shape well (such as Desiree) for the topping on a hot pot or for a Dauphinoise- type dish.

Does anyone know if there's a classic potato variety associated with Gratin Dauphinoise?

I've grown Osprey and Kestrel too. They are good but don't do wonderfully well on the plot.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

I always use Desirée but Felicity who trials these things thinks otherwise.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... dauphinois

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I think apart from small salad spuds UK varieties are seldom really what ii’d Call waxy

I made Dauphinois a few weeks back using those Cyprus potatoes, on the grounds that no main crop spud that has been stored over winter really qualifies as waxy

It was a success - I aimed for leftovers I didn’t get

[jeral Profile]

It might be my imagination but the really waxy ones I've had seem to be decidedly yellowy whilst floury or in between are white.

Q: It might be a stupid one, but for a home gardener can you just plant a few of the spuds you like and start an ongoing crop thusly? I've planted the odd spud which has grown mini spuds at its roots but whether cloning degrades or depletes offspring I've no idea. So, do you really have to buy seed potatoes to grow?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

It might be my imagination but the really waxy ones I've had seem to be decidedly yellowy whilst floury or in between are white.

No, I think you are spot on - I think of Bintje and other continental varieties

There are waxy yellow potatoes used to make German Kartoffelsalat (Potato salad) or that my Dutch relatives serve plain boiled

In Peru they make a big deal out of yellow potatoes, but not sure how waxy they are. They are used to make a sticky mash which is turned into potato cakes stuffed with veg or seafood and fried, a bit like Indian veg “chops”

[Badger's Mate Profile]

do you really have to buy seed potatoes to grow?

No, but.....

You can grow perfectly good spuds by planting sprouting supermarket potatoes. If you keep doing so for several years they might become infected with viruses and yields decrease. Seed potatoes are virus free, originally this was done by growing them in places where the viruses didn't occur, but nowadays plants can be micro propagated which eliminates the virus.

I once tried to clear an allotment by planting from a sack of Maris Peers. I didn't chit them first - none came up. I guess they must have been treated with something to suppress sprouting

[jeral Profile]

Badger's Mate: Ta very much for the info. I imagine some of the seed spud propagation methods must have been developed due to history in the UK (dunno about S. America), i.e. avoiding another terrible famine as suffered by the Irish due to potato blight.

I once tried to clear an allotment by planting from a sack of Maris Peers. I didn't chit them first - none came up. I guess they must have been treated with something to suppress sprouting

Ouch, I hope not as it smacks of Monsanto & selling sterile one-season wheat. Aside from the economic immorality, if food crops are prevented from growing, all flora and fauna on earth is doomed
---

Talking of history - feel free to go make a cup of tea - I've often wondered if the popular Canadian Yukon Gold spuds had any relevance to the metal, i.e. maybe they brought wealth when gold ran out. Seemingly not. Per Wikipedia, they were named after the river (Yukon) where gold was found, but were only invented in 1960 and the variety was named gold due to its colour, which was primarily due to being a cross with a waxy yellow S. American spud. Thus, an in-betweener that works well as an all rounder.