Potato Varieties: Blue- and Purple-skinned Varieties
AC Blue Pride - Tubers are "oval to long; smooth blue purple skin; shallow eyes; white flesh, occasional coloration in vascular ring." "Medium high yielding variety; excellent storability, long dormancy period; medium specific gravity."
AC Domino - Tubers are "round; smooth blue purple skin; medium-deep eyes; white flesh, blue coloration may occur in vascular ring.... High yielding variety; tubers set early; high number of tubers per plant; well adapted to Newfoundland growing conditions; good storability, medium dormancy period; high specific gravity."
Adirondack Blue - "Early- to main-season variety good for Baking, boiling, steaming, mashing, brightly colored salads. Spreading plants yield large, round to oblong, slightly flattened, purple-fleshed tubers with purple skin." See also: Tucker Farms.
All Blue - "Smooth, oblong, medium-size, deep-blue to almost purple skin and brilliant purple, moist, firm flesh with slightly grainy texture." Washington State University [see the report from Benton County Extension] reports that All Blue is also listed as Black Russian, Davis Purple, Eureka Purple, Fenton Blue, Purple Mountain and Shaw #7." See also: Tucker Farms; Wood Prairie Farm.
Bleue d'Auvergne - Tubers are "Rounded, half-sunken eyes, pale purple skin, smooth, white flesh."
Blue Mac - Tubers are "round, stem-end slightly flattened; blue purple skin; medium-deep eyes; white flesh.... High yielding variety; slight cracking may occur on tubers grown in dry soil; good storability, short dormancy period. High total solids." Released in 1979 by Ag Canada NF.
Blue Tomcat – "The darkest of all the purple potatoes with a mealy, flavorful flesh." An entry in the Oregon Foundation Potato Seed Program's clone bank.
Brigus - Tubers are "round to oval; smooth purple skin; shallow eyes; cream to very pale yellow flesh. High yielding variety; good storability, short dormancy period; medium specific gravity." Primary uses: boiling and French frying.
British Columbia Blue - "This variety is part of a "constellation" of large blue-fleshed clones, all of which are very similar, but not apparently identical.... The related clones include Sharon's Blue, Nova Scotia Blue (below) and the widely offered All Blue (sometimes referred to as Canadian Purple). A related Swedish clone is Congo, similar but possessing by far the darkest purple or blue skin and flesh color" (Potato Gene Resources Newsletter, 2001).
Burgundy – "Knobby surface and a cream flesh with purple rings are the signature of this potato. Best baked or roasted."
Caribe - Tubers are "oblong, thick, narrowing at the bud end; smooth red-purple skin or heavily stippled red-purple on a tan background; numerous medium-deep eyes the same colour as the skin or deep indigo; creamy white flesh. High yielding variety; attractive appearance; widely adapted; easily topkilled; grades well with few culls; stores well. High total solids." Primary uses: Fresh market, boiling, and chipping. See also: Cornell.
Congo - A blue-skinned and blue-fleshed variety with a large number of synonyms, as determined by genetic fingerprinting. See the University of Melbourne's page. Synonyms: British Columbia Blue; McIntosh Black; River John Blue; Sharon's Blue. Suspected synonyms: All Blue, Blue Congo, Congo Blue, Purple Congo, Nova Scotia Blue, Himalayan Black. See also: Dave's Garden.
Cowhorn - "Late-season. Fingerling tubers with pointed tips, dark-purple skin and dry, mealy, white flesh. Good storage. Excellent resistant to common scab and late bright.... Cowhorn is also known under the synonyms Purple Cowhorn and Seneca Cowhorn. Though listed as a fingerling in most databases, its name comes from its general appearance.... Specific gravity is 1.069. Maturity is mid-to-late and it is low yielding. It is a heritage variety with uncertain origins. It has been grown in New York state since before 1853. There is some speculation that it might have been developed in Vermont. There is further speculation that it might be identical to La Crotte d’Ours (Bear Poop), a Canadian heritage variety, thought to have roots to Scotland." See also: Potato Gene Resources Newsletter (in .pdf format).
Glacier Blue - no information currently available.
La Crotte d'Ours (Bear Poop) - "Light purple skin, white flesh, distinctive shape - a long kidney type narrowed at the stem attachment, increasing in size toward the "nose", where it is enlarged and rounded. The tubers have a bit of a curve. Relatively smooth skin" (Potato Gene Resources Newsletter, 2001). See also: Kenosha Potato Project (scroll down to Cow Horn entry).
Lion’s Paw – "Called the Puma Maqui in Spanish, this potato is named for its unique shape. Outstanding flavor." Round tuber with purple skin, flesh is a white cortex with a purple center. Heirloom variety listed in OSU's Potato Variety Inventory. (PDF)
Mayan Gold - "Tubers very long, medium eyes, skin parti-coloured blue, flesh yellow." Late maincrop potato for the specialty and French fry markets.
Michigan Purple - "A tablestock selection with an attractive purple skin. This selection has high yield potential and the tubers have a low incidence of internal defects. The vine maturity is mid-season. We regard this as a novelty type." Developed at MSU. See also: Am J Potato Res 78:421-424 (2002).
OAC Royal Gold - A cross between Caribe and Rose Gold, OAC Royal Gold "is a purple skin yellow fleshed potato cultivar with oval shaped tubers. It produced high specific gravity and boil and bake scores when evaluated... in Ontario." See also: Am J Potato Res 75:179-180 (1998).
Purple Peruvian - "Very-late season. Fingerling tubers with purple skin and dry, earthy, bright-purple flesh. Good storage. High resistance to scab." See also: Specialty Produce.
Purple Majesty - Oblong, medium maturing tubers with purple skin and flesh. Introduced and trademarked by Farm Fresh Direct, LLC. See also: OSU pdf.
Purple Viking - "Mid-season. Large, round tubers with purple skin splashed with pink and moist, firm, white flesh. Excellent storage. High resistance to scab and somewhat resistant to leaf hoppers. Compact plants." See also: Colorado Potatoes; Seeds of Change.
Ruby Pulsiver's Blue Noser - "This is one of three maritime Canadian 'blues' in my collection. The other two are Angelina Mahoney's Blue and Pugh's Purple. They are all 'Blue Nose' types: long oval shape, light purple skin with a much darker blue 'nose' on the tuber. Flesh is white with blue streaks around the eyes when peeled. I am told that the Nova Scotians were called 'Blue Noses' because of this potato that was a big part of their diet. Ruby Pulsiver related to me that this variety was grown commercially on a local scale on Tancook Island and that it was traditionally boiled with salt fish" (Potato Gene Resources Newsletter, 2001). Listed in the University of Minnesota's heirloom database project.
True Blue - Tubers are "oblong; smooth dark purple with scattered tan skin; shallow eyes, evenly distributed; prominent eyebrows; blue-purple flesh with some white and pink.... Vigorous growth habit. Excellent keeping characteristics (over 9 months), tolerant to low storage temperature (2°C). No evidence of necrosis or storage discolouration. Resistant to hollow heart. Medium specific gravity. Long dormancy period. Distinctive colour and flavour. Excellent “buttery” texture and “nutty” flavour. Flesh coloration changes from dark-violet to medium blue after cooking; high after boiling sloughing." Primary use: Boiling, baking, fresh market.
Vitelette - Tubers are "Cylindrical oval , half-sunken eyes, distributed over the whole surface of the tuber, violet skin, violet flesh." Synonyms: Négresse, Vitelotte Noire.
See also:
Red-skinned Varieties
Russet-skinned Varieties
White-skinned Varieties
Yellow-skinned Varieties
Complete Variety List
See Potato Variety Links for a vast number of links to a wide variety of potatoes, both commercial and gourmet. See Potato Crop Production, Seed Potatoes, Soil, Diseases and Chemicals for web sites with information on all aspects of commercial production of potatoes.
Growing Specialty Potatoes (UCDavis).
"Potato Varieties Explained" contains information in everyday language on the bewildering number of potatoes.
"Characteristics of Potato Varieties in the Pacific Northwest" by S. L. Love, T. P. Baker, J. C. Ojala, J. J. Pavek, D. L. Corsini.
The Potato Association of America published a potato variety inventory in 2004; the data published there has been incorporated here.
Interested in home-growing potatoes in your garden? Get more information from these sites: U. Illinois Extension, North Dakota Extension, Mississippi State U. Extension, The Garden Helper, Gardener's Supply, and Ohio State's Web Garden. You can watch short, downloadable garndening videos at Plant Facts. You might also want to look for the County Extension Master Gardeners Program in your area; here is the one for Whitman County, Washington. WSU Potato Information & Exchange also provides a complete list of links to Agricultural Extension sites in the U.S. Most Extension programs provide information for home gardeners.
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