March 2020 - 18

When I retired, Ben Nason, a former student, caught the
vision of what I was trying to do and along with another
colleague Tom Laird, a graphic artist, started Tailgater Taters
LLC to make blue (actually purple) and white chips marketed
in 2-ounce bags for the Penn State marketplace and sporting
activities. We have used both Purple Majesty and a new purpleskin
and purple-flesh variety called Blackberry developed by
Douches and his breeding team at Michigan State.
A word of caution about chipping these varieties is that
they are tablestock varieties - not chippers - and the
specific gravities are lower than regular chip varieties, so
temperatures during storage are critical so as to be able to
chip them without having them brown.
I always believed that you could market colored chips easier
than marketing the raw colored fleshed potato for potato salad
or mashed potatoes. People's eyes seem to tell their brain that
maybe this is not something that should be eaten. This would
be like your eyes telling your brain that green ketchup on your
hot dog is not that appealing.
You also can do colored fries, as we have use yellow fleshed
varieties for years but you could add deep purple or red
colored fleshed potatoes to the mix. Again, remember to use
caution with storage temperatures.
Packaging of specialty potato varieties is important since
consumers buy on eye appeal. Packages should contain 3 to 5
pounds of small, uniform tubers that are free from blemishes
and should emphasize tuber size and color. The Patriotic
Packs of red, white and blue potatoes for the Four of July will
only be as good as the production and handling. Another good
idea is to use small wooden baskets to market the potatoes at
roadside or farmer's markets.
CONCLUSION
Specialty potatoes can be successfully produced in
conventional field production or grown using plastic mulch
and drip irrigation in the field or high tunnels for both earlyand
late-season production. High tunnels can produce several
crops a year and using a variety like Blackberry, for example.
We were able to have a nice crop of dark purple skin and flesh
colored potatoes in 77 to 87 days. High tunnels may have the
potential for three potato crops a year.
The future will bring more interesting specialty varieties
from breeders like Douches, DeJong and Holm, as well
as Mark Clough (North Carolina State) and Greg Porter
(University of Maine).
It is indeed a team effort to really increase the use of
specialty potatoes whether in the fresh marketplace or the
processing marketplace. I have enjoyed working with all these
folks over the years and look forward to continuing to work
with them in the future.
Finally, the specialty potatoes of today are definitely not
the potatoes that my grandfather and great grandfather grew
in County Tyrone in Northern Ireland at the turn of the last
century.
William Lamont Jr. is Emeritus Professor of Vegetable Crops at
Penn State University's Department of Plant Science. He holds a
Ph.D. in vegetable crops from Cornell University.
18
Spudman.com
Top, a patriotic assortment of red, white and blue potato chips.
Middle, potato plants growing aided by the use of drip irrigation.
Bottom, Pinto Gold potatoes with their unique red and yellow skin.
Photos: William Lamont
http://www.Spudman.com

March 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2020

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