IN SEASON
Potatoes are a staple part of many British dishes. But there’s more to the simple spud than you’d fi rst think. Riverford Organic tell us more...
Potatoes M
odern farming methods have not been kind to the humble potato. Intensively cultivated for high yield and fast
growth, it’s been bred into staggering blandness, with generic off erings of ‘red’ and ‘white’ potatoes. But this is not an irreversible trend and potatoes really do not have to be either bland or homogeneous. At Riverford, we grow our potatoes slowly, choose our varieties judiciously and encourage you to savour their fl avour and not consign them to use as a bulking item on your plate.
WINTER POTATO VARIETIES
❤ OSMOS: have an excellent fl avour and are very good for roasting. ❤ DESIREE: are a good, red-skinned all-
rounder, but particularly good for baking.
❤ KING EDWARD: have a good fl avour but are hard to grow.
❤ MARFONA: are very smooth-textured, which suits boiling, mashing and roasting.
❤ ORLA AND TRIPLO: are easy to grow and very versatile.
❤ PINK FIR APPLE: are hard to grow but have a fantastic nutty fl avour and waxy texture, which is great boiled.
STORAGE
Unlike spring’s loose-skinned new potatoes, set-skinned maincrop potatoes keep well for weeks, sometimes even months. For the best shelf life, leave them muddy in a paper bag somewhere dark and cool (there’s no need to store them
in the fridge). By late winter they may start to sprout in anticipation of spring, but provided they haven’t turned green, it’s fi ne to knock off the chits and eat them. The fl avour can even become sweeter as they start turning their energy store of starch to sugar. Extensive greening is a sign of the toxin solanine and green potatoes are best discarded.
PREPARATION Remove any sprouts, green patches or gnarly bits, then either peel or soak for a few minutes in cold water before scrubbing clean with a veg brush. Peeling has become more common practice where spraying pesticides is the norm, but remove the pesticides and it becomes less critical – especially since there are so many nutrients in the skin.
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