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champagne_gw

best tasting potatoes?

champagne
13 years ago

I've grown yukon gold and red potatoes the past few seasons but neither seem to have ever had very much flavor. Am I expecting too much from my home grown potatoes or am I growing the wrong kind? I'm thinking of trying German Butterball this year. Does anyone have any thoughts on that variety? Or suggestions on the most flavorful? I have pretty good soil and use lots of compost. I live in the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks for any advice!

Comments (13)

  • pippimac
    13 years ago

    Fingerlings like kipfler and pink fir apple are always tasty for me.
    In NZ we use agrias a lot: very yellow, floury flesh, best roast potatoes ever. Desiree is also good.
    I find traditional/heirloom varieties tend to taste best.
    I guess varieties familiar to me may have different names, or not exist where you are!

  • gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
    13 years ago

    It depends on what you want them for - russets and similar varieties are best for baking; thin skinned are better for other purposes. And "best tasting" is always a subjective issue. Personally, I don't think you can do better than Yukon Gold for a thin skinned variety.....and I live in the PNW also :-)

  • champagne
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thank you.... so far. (I hope to get more opinions). It matters not how I cook them. I just want something more flavorful than what I've had. Maybe I'm asking too much? Most potatoes seem tasteless to me but I've had tasty ones in the distant past.

    It's not my taste buds -- they're fine. And I don't want to put on a lot of butter/salt/pepper/sour cream, etc. I just want a potato with some flavor. I'll try any variety. Yukon Gold is OK but there must be something better. Perhaps I could add something to my soil to boost flavor?

  • shebear
    13 years ago

    There's a chapter on potatoes in "The Resilient Gardener" and she's in the Pacific Northwest.

    Don't water them too much at the end of their life. You could be watering down the taste.

  • starwoodfarm
    13 years ago

    I like Red Gold a lot, more than the other dozen or so I've tried. And they're early and high yeilding.

    "kipfler and pink fir apple are always tasty for me.
    In NZ we use agrias"

    I'm going to check out these three. Thanks!

  • flowersnhens
    13 years ago

    Where do you all buy your best potato seed from?? I can buy them from our local seed & feed store, but not a whole lot of varieties. I want heirloom varieties. Where is the best place to get them??? I am assuming it would have to be online somewhere.

  • Poacherjoe
    13 years ago

    I always use the red and the russet.I make a furrow and place the taters every 15".Then I put a shovel full of finished leaf compost on top of each one.Then I sprinkle some blood meal and bone meal over this and pull the soil over this.When the sprouts come up I bring more soil around each plant and mulch it with grass clippings or rain spoiled alfalfa hay.I can't count how many truck loads of horse manure I have tilled in over the years plus the compost.2 30 foot rows of these spuds last us all year and they taste great.

  • peter_6
    13 years ago

    Try Kenebec or Norland Red, they're as good as Yukon Gold, but firmer. I try to grow four varieties every year -- for variety! Regards, Peter.

  • jolj
    13 years ago

    Anyone tried sun chokes?

  • bluegoat_gw
    13 years ago

    This is worth a look. See if it's in your local library before buying.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Potato Book

  • Cat
    8 years ago

    thank you everyone, I knew about the German butterball and Yellow finn but I was looking for something bigger, that wasn't just fingerlings. I'm open to any lists anyone has tried. Also, has anyone tried growing sweet potatoes up here in the northwest in the potato barrel? It's easier to control the heat factor and I know they need 6 months of heat, but it seems it would work.

  • elisa_z5
    8 years ago

    I did German butterball one year and was not impressed. The ones we like the best are Carola and Green Mountain. The Maine Potato Lady or Fedco both have these types. I agree with starwoodfarm -- Red Gold are amazing, and are great as an early non-storage potato.

    BUT Yukon Gold are generally also excellent, so maybe you do need the ammend in order to get more flavor?

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