Potato Types and Varieties: Quick Guide

Potatoes purple
Potato types: choose between low starch, medium starch, and best starch. When it comes to cooking potatoes, make a choice your potato for the style of cooking you take note. The ones are round reds.

Which potato?

When it comes to cooking potatoes, make a choice your potato for the style of cooking you take note.

  • Use best starch potatoes for baking, frying, and mashing.
  • Use medium starch potatoes for steaming, baking, roasting, grilling, and au gratin dishes.
  • Use low-starch potatoes for boiling, roasting, grilling, sautés, stews, salads, and au gratin dishes.

When you find yourself standing in front of bins of potatoes, which variety or type of potato will get ready dinner up one of the simplest ways you want it to?

Potato types
Potato types, left to right kind: new potatoes, round reds, heirlooms, purples.

A data to potato types and types:

 Russet Potatoes
Russet Potatoes

• Russet potatoes—additionally known as earlier potatoes, baking potatoes, or Idaho potatoes (within the tournament that they have got been grown in Idaho)—have an oblong, elliptical shape, and a rough, netted, brown pores and pores and skin with numerous eyes and white flesh. Russets broaden from 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) long and about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter.

Russets are low in moisture and best in starch in order that they get ready dinner up dry and fluffy. Russets are suited for baking, mashing, and deep frying (French fries). The very best types are russet Burbank, russet Norkotahs, russet Arcadia, and russet Butte.

Long white potatoes
Long white potatoes

• Long white potatoes–additionally known as white rose or California long whites (on account of they’ve been advanced in California)—have an elliptical shape and thin ivory white to light gray-brown pores and pores and skin with imperceptible eyes. Long whites broaden from 4 to 6 inches (10-15 cm) long and about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter.

Long whites have a medium to low starch content material subject material and are moister than russets. You can use long whites for boiling, baking, or deep frying. Long whites keep their shape when cooked.

• Fingerlings—are thumb-sized potatoes that broaden to about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long and 1 inch (2.5 cm) huge. Fingerlings are thin-skinned and may also be cooked unpeeled—baked, boiled, steamed, fried, and roasted. They are low in starch with a waxy texture and dangle together correctly after cooking. They are yellow-fleshed with a rich, buttery texture.

Fingerling types include Ruby crescent fingerlings, Russian banana fingerlings, long white fingerlings, and crimson Peruvian fingerlings.

• Yellow potatoes—are maximum continuously round to relatively oblong-shaped potatoes with thin, yellowish mild brown skins, and buttery yellow to golden waxy flesh. Yellow potatoes are low to medium in starch and have a humid, creamy, succulent texture with a buttery style. They are correctly suited for boiling, steaming, mashing, roasting, grilling, and au gratin dishes.

Yukon Gold potatoes
Yukon Gold potatoes

Yellow flesh potato types include Yukon Gold, Yellow Finn, German Butterball, Carola, Nicola, and Alby’s Gold.

• Round white potatoes—are medium-sized, round with a gradual tan to freckled brown pores and pores and skin and waxy to creamy textured flesh. Round whites are rainy with low to medium starch. They are correctly suited for boiling, roasting, frying, and mashing. Round whites dangle their shape after cooking.

Round whites are grown maximum repeatedly inside the Northeastern United States. Round white types include Kennebec, Superior, and Atlantic.

• Round red potatoes— additionally known as new potatoes (on account of they are small), red bliss potatoes, and boiling potatoes–are medium-sized, round, rose to reddish-brown skinned potatoes with a dense, crisp white flesh. Round reds are low in starch and are sweeter tasting than round whites. Make a selection round reds for boiling, roasting, grilling, sautés, stews, salads, and au gratin dishes. You can serve round reds cooked entire.

Round reds are maximum repeatedly grown inside the Northwestern United States. Round red types include Crimson Norland and Crimson Pontiac.

Purple potatoes
Peruvian Purple potatoes

• Purple potatoes or blue potatoes—are heirloom potatoes with grayish blue to crimson skins and maximum continuously inky blue flesh. They are delicately flavored. Purple and blue-skinned potatoes are low in starch and may also be boiled, steamed, roasted, fried, mashed, or served in stews, salads, and au gratin dishes.

Blue and crimson potatoes are almost definitely descended from the original potatoes from Peru which have been the equivalent color. Purple flesh potato types include All Blue, which is dry and superb for roasting; Purple Peruvian which is well fried; and Purple Viking which has superb style and is very good mashed.

• Other heirloom potatoes–include two red-skinned and red-fleshed potatoes: Huckleberry and Blossom. Both a kind of potatoes are low in starch and may also be boiled, steamed, roasted, fried, mashed, or served in stews, salads, and au gratin dishes.

Maris Piper new potatoes
‘Maris Piper’ new potatoes

• New Potatoes–is a time frame for any collection of potato that has been harvested previous than it has reached maturity. (Then again, mature round red potatoes also are known as new potatoes simply because they are small.) New potatoes also are known as kid potatoes and infrequently creamers. They can be as small as marble-sized.

New potatoes are harvested when their leaves are nevertheless green—most potatoes are harvested after their leaves have turned into yellow or brown—and previous than their sugar has begun to become to starch. New potatoes are thin-skinned and in reality rainy with a crisp, waxy textured flesh.

New potatoes regularly come to market inside the spring and early summer season. They are certainly not stored in storage as a result of their best sugar content material subject material. New potatoes are great for cooking entire, boiling, or pan roasting. They retain their shape after cooking and are correctly used in potato salads.

Red Norland Potatoes
Crimson Norland Potatoes are red potatoes for storing

Storing potatoes or storage potatoes–come from mature plants whose leafy tops have yellowed and died once more. Storing potatoes should be dried or cured previous than they are stored. Potatoes are maximum continuously cured for a duration of 4 to 5 days at about 60-70ºF (16-21°C). Curing allows cuts and flooring injuries of the tuber to “heal.”

Well-matured potatoes without defects are the most efficient keepers. Potatoes should be stored in a cool, dark, well-ventilated area. Potatoes may also be stored for up to 6 months.

Excellent storing potatoes include Norkotah, Goldrush, Butte, Katahdin, Caribe, and Crimson Norland.

Additional tips at One of the best ways to Increase Potatoes.

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