Anything come near Desiree for taste??

[Snadger]

Desiree potatoes have been on the go for some time now and are the only maincrop tattie my family like! They are good all rounders and are very tasteful. Surely the plant breeders must have got there act together by now and realised this, so are there any potatoes, not neccessarily redskins that come anywhere near to them in taste and all round excellence??

[SarzWix]

Desiree are my favourite maincrop too, and they're quite a price in the supermarket at the mo - Romano seem to be the main redskin & Desiree are the "Extra Superduper" ones! I've read loads of potato descriptions in catalogues, but none of them have really appealed to replace them. Someone in another thread (S. Rat?) recommended Rooster as a good all rounder, and you can get them in supermarket to try out ?

[Two_Sheds]

Pink Fir Apple. Crop it from July to December, its a superb firm waxy potato but lends itself to mashing as well as "salad". Mine resisted blight last year too, though I don't think they're meant to

[terrier]

I grew Desiree last season as well and they were really good. I was wondering if there is an optimum time for planting spuds to get the best out of them, or do they just require enough time to mature irrespective of when you plant them?

[raine]

I seem to have read somewhee that the sarpo brand have been mentioned for their blight resistance. Has anyone grown these and how do they compare for taste?

[sewer rat]

Tatties are quite a difficult crop to pick a favourite in - depends on what your personal preferences are, as well as what you are going to do with them cooking wise.
My faves are as follows
New Potato - Lady Christl
Salad Potato - Charlotte
Mash - Edzell Blue
Roast - Rooster
Soup - Kerrs Pink

Just don't ask me to choose one to cover all things !!

[Protea]

Roosters are definately my fave red potato (in fact - in general my fave potato if i had to pick one!). Sadly i had a poor crop last year, it was just too wet and the slugs had a field day. Managed to salvage some though and they're nearly finished now!

pink fir apple do taste great but are a bit of a fiddle and i got rather low yields from a very late maturing crop - Anya (which is bred from PFA) is a second early and the tubers are lovely and plump with a similar nutty taste.

[bluemoon]

Our family's favourite maincrop are 'Majestic' Not many seem to grow them , but the flavour is superb. The crops aren't massive, but there are worse. All anyone on our lotties seems to grow is 'Cara'. We tried them the first year, but although the crop was huge, they were totally flavourless and, for us at least, the whole point is the taste of the final product in comparison to shop-bought. 'Majestic' aren't supposed to be blight tolerant, but we still had a reasonable crop last summer, even though the whole area was heavily flooded then hammered by blight. We'll definitely be growing them again this year - with fingers crossed for better conditions.

[Snadger]

Our family's favourite maincrop are 'Majestic' Not many seem to grow them , but the flavour is superb. The crops aren't massive, but there are worse. All anyone on our lotties seems to grow is 'Cara'. We tried them the first year, but although the crop was huge, they were totally flavourless and, for us at least, the whole point is the taste of the final product in comparison to shop-bought. 'Majestic' aren't supposed to be blight tolerant, but we still had a reasonable crop last summer, even though the whole area was heavily flooded then hammered by blight. We'll definitely be growing them again this year - with fingers crossed for better conditions.

I like Majestic as well bluemoon............unfortunately I've eaten all mine now!

[Nicos]

Charlotte..I would weep if I couldn't get any

But they are waxy....wonderful tiny as salad or huge for chips

and they seem to be blight tolerant.

[Minty]

Charlottes all the way, melted butter and chopped chives MMMMMMMMM. Minty X

[fivespud364]

Rooster seems to be a very very good all round potato it makes very good mash and roasted potatoes and not bad chips. I personally think Marfona makes my perfect chips but then it depends how you like your chips and Charlotte i think is the best salad potato like all things its more a case of personal taste

[Snadger]

Rooster seems to be a very very good all round potato it makes very good mash and roasted potatoes and not bad chips. I personally think Marfona makes my perfect chips but then it depends how you like your chips and Charlotte i think is the best salad potato like all things its more a case of personal taste

Just bought two packs of Rooster at the local supermarket (they were half price!)
One pack is to try for taste and tuther is for the allotment if they're ok!

[pigletwillie]

Likewise fivespud, its marfona for me. I trialed rooster last year which was not the best of growing years and am giving them another go this.

[diana]

Rooster cant stand them always to to mush before they are cooked sorry just my opinion