New potatoes come in many sizes, shapes - and colors

Breeders looks for varieties that taste good and attract eye

John Schmitz
Freelance Writer

April 13, 2007

Some interesting-looking spuds are showing up in Professor Isabel Vales' specialty potato program these days.

Vales, the lead researcher in Oregon State University's potato research program, has been spending about 10 percent of her time developing and evaluating spuds that come in all shapes and colors.

Some of the more promising selections have flesh colors ranging from intense yellow to purple.

Many of the experimental cultivars Vales is involved with were hybridized at the university and at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service facility in Prosser, Wash. Vales said some of the selections that show promise in the program could have a good fit in both the fresh market and processed sectors, and that they may also provide a value-added crop for organic growers.

Depending on the level of interest shown by processors and fresh-market growers, the colored potatoes could be on the market in as little as one or two years.

They will be released by the Pacific Northwest Tri-State Potato Variety Development Program.

"We have already provided some of this material to commercial seed growers under material transfer agreements," Vales said. "In addition to that there is material that organic growers are working with."

Just what kind of future is in store for colored spuds became evident during evaluations at Gathering Together organic farm near Corvallis , Ore. , last fall.

During the evaluations some 50 participants, most of them industry stakeholders and growers, were on hand to give their opinions of several advanced selections, including white- and yellow-fleshed cultivars, from the Tri-State breeding program. Some of the selections were organically grown.

Selections were prepared in one of three ways: steamed, chipped or french fried.

Evaluators rated each spud for flavor, texture and visual appearance.

The evaluations were conducted by the OSU Food Science Department's Sensory Lab.

One of those participating in the evaluations was OSU food science senior faculty research assistant Brian Yorgey, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate who helped set up the tastings.

"There were all kinds of combinations of colored flesh and colored and uncolored skins," Yorgey said.

Yorgey was impressed with some of the colored spuds. "I think it's an exciting thing as far as something that people would want to buy to make different kinds, more exciting potato foods."

Within the color group, Yorgey said that in addition to the visual differences, which he found appealing, there were flavor differences among the spuds. "Some were more earthy and some had a little more bland flavor."

"I think there's great potential for those kinds of potatoes for organic production," said John Eveland, owner of Gathering Together Farm. "One way to differentiate yourself from Idaho russets is to grow different potatoes."

Brian Charlton, an OSU research and extension agent who took part in the cutting, believes that of all the selections he sampled the yellow-fleshed spuds, which are deeper in color than Yukon and could become an alternative to Yukon, have the best fresh-market potential.

Charlton, who works at OSU's Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center, which is in fresh-market country, said markets are still "relatively small" for specialty potatoes.

The organic sector for all spuds, on the other hand, is growing significantly, he said.

He noted that according to a study done in Idaho , the estimated demand for organic potatoes is "far higher" than the number of organic acres in production today.

OSU's Klamath Basin station is the first to evaluate new potato material coming out of OSU and USDA-ARS Prosser.