We were at the Farmer's Market the other day, and we stumbled upon these. Yes these are locally grown Blue potatoes, and yes my daughter who is fascinated with Blue and Purple colors immediately decided she wanted those.
I didn't know these were for real. I have a phobia when it comes to food especially ones that occur in colors that i've never seen before! (I learned that this is actually a good instinct to possess as humans - neophobia, w.r.t food i mean) . The only time I have seen those were in packaged foods like Terra Blue chips and me being the suspicious me, felt those must be some GM chips or ones that used artificial colors. (In case I get sued for libel - let me clarify that they do say "From Natural Blue potatoes")
So I was happy to see these real Blue potatoes. Once you peel the skin the inside is almost purple and the taste was awesome!
This made me wonder about the varieties of potatoes. How many varieties do you think there are in total?
Answer ......
The most recent World Catalog of Potato Varieties documents 4500 varieties of cultivated and 1900 wild potato varieties and species around the world. So how come you rarely see anything beyond the Russett, Yukon Gold, White and Rose colored ones at the store or even at the Farmer's Market?
Answer ......
Monoculture! 70% of the cultivated land for potatoes is devoted to just 4 varieties, and the Blue one is not even one of the "endangered" ones.
So if you thought we had too many choices at the supermarket, think again!
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