One of the readers of “WEEK” became interested in varieties of potatoes with purple flesh. “What kind of miracles are these, why?” – approximately so it is possible to formulate bewilderment of our telephone interlocutor. As we understand it, he is a fan of tubers of traditional white and yellow colors, cultivated in Russia for several centuries.
The birthplace of the palette is Latin America
We explain. Abroad, a real boom broke out in the creation of varieties with red, blue or purple skin and tuber pulp. We note right away – no, these are not genetically modified products and not chemical coloring. Varieties are bred in the most common, natural ways. The basis for their creation was the homeland of potatoes – Latin America, where the traditional varieties include many varieties of potatoes that differ from each other, including color. The color palette is more pronounced except for Latin American corn. It is we who are accustomed to yellow-white shades, and in the homeland of culture, many generations of the Aztecs, Incas, Mayans and their descendants, hundreds of years of selection, brought out a whole corn “rainbow”.
Vegetables are useful
Colored varieties of potatoes looked exotic to the world, which is interesting in itself. And then researchers added fuel to the fire, who discovered that the consumption of potatoes with multi-colored pulp, due to the high content of useful antioxidant substances in pigments, reduces the development of certain cancers, atherosclerosis, strengthens the walls of blood vessels, slows down the accumulation of cholesterol in the body, improves vision. Of course, such varieties do not replace medicines, but, doctors say, they are really useful.
Now in Russia
To taste – ordinary potatoes, although there are varieties that are more suitable for boiling, frying, making colored chips. The industrial production of new varieties began in Asia, where the Japanese, South Koreans, and Chinese react with great interest to such food innovations, in the USA and other countries. Including similar varieties appeared in Russia. The world famous research institute of potato farming named after A.G. Lorkha is located in Lyubertsy, but several years ago it entered the structure of the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing located in the Odintsovo District. Thanks to this, we have the opportunity to request information about unusual varieties of potatoes from leading experts in this field.
Says Sergey Zhevora, Director of the Research Center for Potatoes. Lorch.
well forgotten old
- Varieties of potatoes with colored pulp in modern Russia are still exotic in cooking. Meanwhile, they were known to domestic housewives in the 19th century. So, in Grachev’s catalog (1896), the Asparagus variety was described – “the tubers are black on the outside, black-violet in the context, very beautiful for a side dish, mealy pulp is tasty, a salad variety.”
At present, the process of active cultivation of potato varieties with colored pulp is beginning in the Russian Federation, especially since there are already varieties on the market created by Russian breeders with a variety of shades of pulp – dark purple (Violet variety), white with purple veins (Northern Lights variety) , pink (grade Surprise).
These varieties differ from the traditional ones in the increased content of anthocyanins and carotenoids, special substances that give the potato pulp an exotic color. These pigments are of great value as sources of antioxidants. When consumed, the risk of diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, cataracts and a number of others is reduced. Due to the content of anthocyanins and carotenoids, as well as a low starch content, colored varieties can also be used as part of a diet. Even diabetics.
- How to cook colored varieties of potatoes?
- Despite the coloring, it still remains a potato, and, therefore, you can cook all the same dishes from it as from the usual, non-colored one. However, there are little tricks to keep the color of the tuber after heat treatment.
If you want to cook colored potatoes, you should give preference to baking, frying, or making chips. In this case, you will not have any difficulties. Potatoes will retain their original color and look presentable on a plate.
If you prefer boiled potatoes, and even more so mashed potatoes, then be prepared for the fact that the tubers may lose their color, and the finished product will look like a grayish-faded mass on a plate. The reason is the destruction of pigments during cooking, as a result of which potato tubers lose their color. To prevent this from happening, colored potatoes must be boiled strictly in their uniforms in salted water. Cooking time should not exceed 15-20 minutes.
Under these conditions, you will get beautiful boiled tubers that have not lost their color, which will look attractive both in a salad and in the form of mashed potatoes.
Hostesses confirm: delicious and beautiful
The Odintsovo housewife Svetlana Sonina supplements the method of cooking colored potatoes on mashed potatoes:
- As for the puree, the color is washed out of the top layer, but remains inside the tuber. So it’s better not to cut the potatoes, boil them large. Start pounding and the color will come back. It is necessary to cook ordinary potatoes and colored ones in different saucepans so that the white one does not stain.
We are conservatives
Prejudice against new varieties has been encountered before. For example, an opinion against white eggplant: “What is this? They are also called blue, but they are white! No, I won’t buy! And these same white eggplants were bred by breeders in order to deprive the vegetable of the poisonous substance solanine, remove bitterness, and make eggplants suitable and safe for children’s and diet food. Unusual white cucumbers (they are greener inside than outside) seem to have been bred not for practical reasons, but as a demonstration of the possibilities of selection. They turned out very tender and tasty. In a word, novelties should not be neglected. Need to try.
