January 2020 - 14

SPECIALTY
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11
Heirloom potato chips slow cooked in
coconut oil, again using Purple Majesty.
I have always thought that potato chips
were the way to really use specialty
potatoes so throughout my career at
Penn State I experimented and trialed
numerous specialty potatoes and worked
with colleagues in the Penn State Center
for Food Innovation, the Food Science
Department and the College of Health
and Human Development developing
different uses for specialty potatoes.
When I retired, a former student in
our Plant Science Department at Penn
team at MSU called Blackberry, a purple
skinned/very dark purple flesh variety.
One final word of caution about
Potatoes planted in double rows on plastic mulch and drip irrigation.
State, Ben Nason, caught the vision of
what I was trying to do and along with
another colleague Tom Laird, a graphic
artist started Tailgater Taters LLC to
make blue (actually purple) and white
chips marketed in 2 oz. bags for the
Penn State marketplace and sporting
activities. We have utilized both Purple
Majesty and a new variety developed by
David Douches and his potato breeding
chipping these varieties is that they
are tablestock varieties not chipping
potato varieties and as such the specific
gravities are lower than regular chip
varieties so temperatures during storage
are critical so as to be able to chip them
without having them brown. I always
believed that you could market colored
chips easier than marketing the raw
colored fleshed potato for potato salad
or mashed potatoes. People's eyes seem
to tell their brain that maybe this is not
something that should be eaten. This
would be like your eyes telling your
brain that " green catsup " on your hot dog
is not that appealing. Another note is
that you can also do colored French fries
as we have used yellow fleshed varieties
for years but you could add deep purple
or red colored fleshed potatoes to the
mix. Again, remember the caution about
your storage temperatures.
Packaging of specialty potato varieties
is extremely important since consumers
buy on eye appeal and packaging should
contain 3 to 5 lbs. of small (1.5-3.0 inches),
uniform tubers that are free from
blemishes or defects. The packages
should emphasize tuber size and color.
The " Patriotic Packs " of " red, white and
blue potatoes " for the Fourth of July
will only be as good as the production
and handling. Another good idea is to
use small wooden baskets to market the
potatoes at roadside or farmer's markets.
Stokes Seeds Trial Evaluation
Researching the best for our customers since 1881.
PhaRaoh
59 days. Sybaris type, 5.75 in/
15 cm long, with darker green
color, with mostly 4 sieve size.
Upright plant that harvest
cleanly and the majority of the
pods (approx. 80%) retain their
peduncles. High yields. HR:
Rust Race Ua:38. Exclusive.
mYRTlE
80 days. Extra large good
quality oblate fruit with a long
harvest window. Fast and easy
pruning determinate habit.
Resistance to TSWV, Aal, FF,
V, TYLCV.
Various production options
Specialty potatoes can be successfully
grown in conventional field production
or using plastic mulch and drip irrigation
in the field or high tunnels for both early
and late season production. High tunnels
can produce several crops a year and
using a variety Blackberry potato from
David Douches potato breeding program
at MSU. We were able to have a nice crop
of dark purple skin and flesh colored
potatoes in 77-87 days. High tunnels may
have the potential for three potato crops a
year, which would be interesting.
I believe in the future we will see
JamESToWN
82 days. Robust plant with good
yield potential of quality fruit over
a long growing cycle. Deep red
225-275 gr/8-9.7 oz oblate fruit
with excellent heat set ability.
Resistance to Aal, FF, V1.
SVPB8415
(X10R)
High quality extra large blocky
pepper that matures from
green to yellow quickly. Very
adaptive to many growing
regions with a high resistance
to TMV and intermediate to
BLS 0-10.
Contact Your Area
Territory Manager:
Tom Pagels
NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, LI
609-247-7140
Tom Dauria
NJ, PA, DE, MD, VA, WV, LI
908-489-4896
Randy DeMay
New York
585-747-3379
Tim Clark
WI, MN, IA, ND, SD
608-609-5884
George Dobson
New York, MA, CT
585-405-4160
Karen Grybko
NH, VT, ME, MA, RI
603-654-5362
James Young
MI, OH, IN, IL, MO, WI, MN
616-250-0329
Ken Wagner
IL, IN, MO, KY, TN
317-409-3445
- Quality Seed Since 1881 -
1-800-263-7233 │www.stokeseeds.com │ Box 548 Buffalo NY 14240
12 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
Tom Jacobs
MI, OH, IN
616-307-4322
Carol Korey
New York
845-544-4122
more interesting specialty potatoes from
the potato breeders like Mark Clough,
North Carolina State University; Greg
Porter, University of Maine; David
Douches and his team at MSU; David
Holm and his team at Colorado State
University and Walter DeJong, Cornell
University, that will inspire us to new
ventures and consumers to new uses for
these potatoes. Think of the different
combinations of skin and flesh colors
of red, white, blue/purple, apricot and
yellow that the potato breeders can
develop in the future!
It is indeed a team effort to really
increase the use of specialty potatoes
whether in the fresh marketplace or the
processing marketplace. I have enjoyed
working with all these folks over the
years and look forward to continuing to
work with them in the future.
Finally, the specialty potatoes of today
are definitely not the potatoes that my
grandfather and great-grandfather grew
in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland at
the turn of the last century. VGN
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http://www.stokeseeds.com http://www.VegetableGrowersNews.com
January 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2020
