Thread: Potatoes
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Old 15-07-2008, 02:35 AM posted to aus.gardens
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Default Potatoes

"Loosecanon" wrote in message
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"terryc" wrote in message
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Interesting question; where did the spud originate from?


south america, along with their relative the tomato.

loosecanon
More interesting why do they only seem to sell 4 varieties in WA and
persist in selling crap Nadine variety. More work should have been done to
increase the yields and strength of Delaware.


there are literally thousands of potato cultivars out there. as with other
"supermarket" veg, commercial growers tend towards a handful of varieties
only, to suit supermarket purposes (ripening time, transportation, long
storage etc).

further to your comment on nadines, different potatoes cook best in
different ways (find yourself a list). there is personal preference & there
is right cooking method for the type - there aren't really any "bad"
potatoes. i'm pretty sure desiree & pontiac sell so well commercially
because they are all-purpose & you can't really go wrong with them.

diggers club (no doubt, amongst others) is promoting more potato types every
year for home growers, so try them. iirc they sell perhaps 15 kinds (which
is still only the tip of the iceberg).

We have a Royal Blue variety which is excellent but you have to use them
within a week or they sprout. The supply line of these isn't that crash
hot either where some weeks marble sized potatoes hit the shelves.


see above - not everything is suitable for mass commercial sale.

Now I know they grow sebago here but never ever do these get sold in fruit
& veg shops. I wonder where they go to. I guess the Potato Marketing board
has it all tied up. Meanwhile we dip out on decent white potatoes.


in nsw you can't get away from bloody sebagos! which are not at all my
personal preference. however, they're pretty good in & of themselves - they
keep growing in one patch of my garden despite all my efforts, so from that
pov i can't fault them ;-) if you really like sebagos, get some seed
potatoes & go for it! or move to nsw g.
kylie