Hi all,

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and amoungst
other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that were quite
delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that is more
dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.
I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely available at the
markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed potato
supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order service?
A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is my best
shot.

Cheers
CT



Remove THE FISH from the big pond to reply.

"GOW" wrote in message

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and
amoungst
other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that were
quite
delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if
possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick,
quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that
is more
dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.

The only ones that I can think of that (sort of) fit that description
because the physical description is right but the colour is not right
(but may be if you are trying to distinguish them from say a red
skinned spud) are Kipflers (I wouldn't call them white skinned -more a
dun colour). Kipfler is a salad potato and is disgusting roasted
(some dozy Chef at a very expensive restaurant I went to clearly
didn't know his bloody spuds and how they should be used).

Farm1 wrote:

The only ones that I can think of that (sort of) fit that description
because the physical description is right but the colour is not right
(but may be if you are trying to distinguish them from say a red
skinned spud) are Kipflers (I wouldn't call them white skinned -more a
dun colour). Kipfler is a salad potato and is disgusting roasted

Ditto, We obtained our seed stock years ago from diggers club in
Melbourne. They are the only one of five varieties that have kept on
growing year after year. Warning, sieve soil with fine mesh after
digging because even little 5mm spuds will resprout.

We have some that seem to be like you are talking about. They call them
Okra - they are a relative of the weed Oxalis (hence the prolofic growth if
left in ground!) We just scrub them & boil them (with a bit of mint) and
serve them buttered. They vary in their colour, from cream to beige &
sometimes purplish.

Thistledown.




GOW wrote:
Hi all,

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and
amoungst other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos
that were quite delicious so I am trying to locate the same in
Australia if possible. The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long
and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that
is more dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice
indeed. I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely
available
at the markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed
potato supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order
service? A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is
my
best shot.

Cheers
CT



Remove THE FISH from the big pond to reply.

"Thistledown" wrote in message
We have some that seem to be like you are talking about. They call
them
Okra - they are a relative of the weed Oxalis (hence the prolofic
growth if
left in ground!) We just scrub them & boil them (with a bit of
mint) and
serve them buttered. They vary in their colour, from cream to beige
&
sometimes purplish.

I think you mean oca (alternative and less used spelling is oka).
Okra is a long thin vegetable that grows above the ground and is
gelatinous when cooked - much used in Cajun and other Southern US
cooking.

"GOW" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and amoungst
other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that were quite
delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that is
more dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.
I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely available at
the markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed potato
supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order service?
A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is my best
shot.

It sounds like Kipflers. See:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/Food/Ingr...s/Potatoes.asp

Terryc wrote:
Farm1 wrote:

The only ones that I can think of that (sort of) fit that
description because the physical description is right but the
colour is not right (but may be if you are trying to distinguish
them from say a red skinned spud) are Kipflers (I wouldn't call
them white skinned -more a dun colour). Kipfler is a salad potato
and is disgusting roasted

Ditto, We obtained our seed stock years ago from diggers club in
Melbourne. They are the only one of five varieties that have kept on
growing year after year. Warning, sieve soil with fine mesh after
digging because even little 5mm spuds will resprout.

Are they those dark purple ones? I got some of those from the
organic/gourmet spud guy (Josephs) at Fyshwick Markets years ago, didn't eat
them all in time and put the sprouting ones in the ground. decades later
they are flourishing, producing good crops every year. and yes, they are
awful baked, they go sort of weird and sugary.

--
ant
Don't try to email me;
I'm borrowing the spammer du jour's addy

In article , "novus" wrote:
"GOW" wrote in message
...
We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and amoungst
other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that were quite
delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that is
more dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.
I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely available at
the markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed potato
supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order service?
A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is my best
shot.

It sounds like Kipflers. See:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/Food/Ingr...s/Potatoes.asp

Some piccies of varieties at: http://tinyurl.com/zlhuh
Or, in full:
http://www.westernpotatoes.com.
au/go/consumer/varieties/know-your-varieties

And which is best for what: http://tinyurl.com/jlc5e
In full:
http://www.westernpotatoes.com.
au/go/consumer/varieties/which-potato-to-use

(12 months ago the site had both the above pages available as a single
PDF chart. Didn't notice it on this visit.)

If you're seriously looking for a seed source, you might have some
luck with one or other of the contacts in the table at the bottom of:

http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/EGIL-5J36SF?open

Alternatively, check out likely suspects after googling for:
potato seed varieties site:.au
or some similar phrase.

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

"novus" wrote in message
...
"GOW" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and
amoungst other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that
were quite delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if
possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that is
more dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.
I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely available
at the markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed
potato supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order
service?
A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is my best
shot.

It sounds like Kipflers. See:
http://www.whitehat.com.au/Food/Ingr...s/Potatoes.asp


Other sites to contemplate may be:

Article in The Epicure section of the Melbourne Age:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...594287097.html

And, see reference to Dobson's Potatoes under the Victoria heading:
http://www.naturalhub.com/buy_natura..._australia.htm for more
info.

ant wrote:


Are they those dark purple ones?

that is another one.

We had

pink eye; which has pink around the eyes,
the one in the vege shop (round, light tan) d???
and a couple of others. Might have had the purple one.

I think our problem is that our soil was still crap.
After years of feeding cow/mushroom/chicken compost to the soil, we
finally pulled out a nice big Kipler (15cm x8cm) recently.

So I am tempted to retry some of the unsuccessful ones, especially if
the above ground bin we planted a few weeks ago goes great.

The problem with our soil is the the previous owner had clorinated above
ground pool, which he dumped onto the soil each winter (it saved
cleaning all winter as it was under a gum tree. After years of adding
organis matter, we are finally getting good stuff back.

"ant" wrote in message
...
Terryc wrote:
Farm1 wrote:

The only ones that I can think of that (sort of) fit that
description because the physical description is right but the
colour is not right (but may be if you are trying to distinguish
them from say a red skinned spud) are Kipflers (I wouldn't call
them white skinned -more a dun colour). Kipfler is a salad
potato
and is disgusting roasted

Ditto, We obtained our seed stock years ago from diggers club in
Melbourne. They are the only one of five varieties that have kept
on
growing year after year. Warning, sieve soil with fine mesh after
digging because even little 5mm spuds will resprout.

Are they those dark purple ones? I got some of those from the
organic/gourmet spud guy (Josephs) at Fyshwick Markets years ago,
didn't eat
them all in time and put the sprouting ones in the ground. decades
later
they are flourishing, producing good crops every year. and yes, they
are
awful baked, they go sort of weird and sugary.

I think you might be talking about "purple congos". Dark purple flesh
and a lovely flowery spud. Kipfler is quite different in appaearance
(as it's a light fawn colour) from the purple congos although I do
think there is a purple one that is longer than the congos. Can't
remember it's name though..

Thanks all for the tips.
I have checked out the advice and none of the varieties mentioned are
similar to the ones we found in italy; they were smaller and thinner than
the ones offered as possibles but thanks for the great info any way.
I think the spud we were buying would be too fiddly for the industry here so
maybe has never been imported so it's something to look forward to next
trip.

Thankyou all for your generosity and spirit.

CT

"GOW" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

We just spent a few weeks on holiday's in the north of Italy and amoungst
other things foody discovered small cigar shaped potatos that were quite
delicious so I am trying to locate the same in Australia if possible.
The tubors were white skinned, around 10 cm long and 4cm thick, quite
twisted and uneven, and they have white to cream coloured flesh that is
more dense and solid than any I have eaten before - very nice indeed.
I am not sure of their variety name but as they were freely available at
the markets and supermarkets they must be a common crop over there.

Does anyone know the name of these little beauties and / or a seed potato
supplier in aus that has unusual varieties and a mail order service?
A long shot I know but the collective knowledge of the group is my best
shot.

Cheers
CT



Remove THE FISH from the big pond to reply.