Taste Thread - Potato Varieties

[Florence Fennel]

I roasted some yesterday - not pleasant at all, they were too hard on the outside. Better try chips then, or grow something else next year!

[zazen999]

I roasted some yesterday - not pleasant at all, they were too hard on the outside. Better try chips then, or grow something else next year!

My sentiments exactly. We chucked the lot.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Sarpo Mira make excellent mashed. I will confess I add grated cheese as this variety is not the tastiest

[chris]

My roosters this year have been huge. We've been having them as jacket potatoes - lovely and fluffy. They taste great too.

[poppysocks]

Not had much luck with my potatoes this year. Grew earlies and seconds in bags and they were doing really well but then blight struck but fortunately not before a good crop. Main crop which I grew at my new allotment was really poor and I think this was due to the weather initially as many didn't grow at all and rotted and the ones that did had very low yield. I grew a variety to see which did best, the four in bags all did fine and tasted good, these were:
Rocket (some huge & made brilliant chips)
Elizabeth
Lady Christie
Charlotte

At allotment:
Sarpo shona most died
Sarpo mira half died, some produce low yield ok for chips
Maris piper grew well but pathetic crop awful for chips but ok for mash
Cara grew well but tiny spuds little better the MP
highland burgandy red all rotted
Salad blue 2 plant only but ok crop and lovely boiled.

Have come to the conclusion that the soil at my plot might need some work!

[Tripmeup]

British Queen crop very poor this year..too many tiddlers.. taste OK
Maris Piper which got no attention at all produced a great crop and produced lovely floury spuds when steamed..
Desiree... only dug a few but good crop..Don't know on taste yet as gave first batch to neighbors..
Dempsey's Darling and May Queen still to dig...

[roitelet]

Bernadette, a good cropper, tastes good and a cross between floury and waxy. A general purpose spud that stores well. Not sure if it is available in the UK.

BTW it is blight resistant as well!!!!

[Wendie]

Earlies this year were Pentland Javelin in bags and tubs, had loads and really tasty and creamy. Maincrop in raised bed were Lady Balfour, yielded 20lbs out of 10 seed potatoes which I thought was excellent. Some were ma--oosive! as the son called them. Cook and taste lovely but a bit too floury to make chips out of I thought.

[snakeshack]

grew pentland javelin as new spuds and yield was poor on my clay soil even with the usual manure dressing,also about 50 percent were slug damaged.the good ones were tasty though.My maincrop roosters had an average crop but broke up on boiling leaving a watery mash and were also prone to slugs.
the best all round spud this year was definitely kestrel,there was minimal slug damage and a massive crop(over 200 pouds from an 8ft by4 ft bed)they also roast,chip and mash well an several weighed in over 2 pounds and made great jackets (for sharing)
the sarpo mira also crooped very heavily and initially I was not impressed by the flavour,but it appears to improve with storage as does their "roastability"

[VirginVegGrower]

Not had much luck with my potatoes this year. Grew earlies and seconds in bags and they were doing really well but then blight struck but fortunately not before a good crop. Main crop which I grew at my new allotment was really poor and I think this was due to the weather initially as many didn't grow at all and rotted and the ones that did had very low yield. I grew a variety to see which did best, the four in bags all did fine and tasted good, these were:
Rocket (some huge & made brilliant chips)
Elizabeth
Lady Christie
Charlotte

At allotment:
Sarpo shona most died
Sarpo mira half died, some produce low yield ok for chips
Maris piper grew well but pathetic crop awful for chips but ok for mash
Cara grew well but tiny spuds little better the MP
highland burgandy red all rotted
Salad blue 2 plant only but ok crop and lovely boiled.

Have come to the conclusion that the soil at my plot might need some work!

I struggled this year also, so don't beat yourself up too much. The rain deluge washed every bit of nutrient out of my sandy soil. I am packing in humus this year to an extent that I never have before.

[carolineholding]

first year growing so I went to a potato fair and bought a gazzilion different varieties in small quantities, too many really. I grew them all in stacks of tyres in pure well rotted FYM (as advised by an old giffer I met on an allotment in a city farm). now lets see if I can remember the different varieties...

Red duke of york was ok, I bought one called Rosalie (i think) that was nice but not great yeilds -good roasted and chipped. Anya was delicous, really yummy yield was average. Ratte was nice too and ok yield. I grew Salad blues -goodish yield not too tasty and highland burgandy red -awful yield looked dreadful not much of a flavour, wont be doing that again. Pink Firr Apple, divine obvs not brilliant yield. My neighbour gave me some called Vittolette a late main salad variety dark blue flesh, nice, variable yield but not as nice as PFA. and just started harvesting the Sarpo Mira, great yield, finding the taste ok too, but then I was expecting to chip and roast them.

Nothing else is standing out for me right now, so if I have forgotten any they must have been pretty mediocre