Mmm ... Purple Disease-Resistant Potatoes

the_ph0x` writes: "An article on Reuters describes a new breed of potato as being resistant to disease, able to grow in low nutrient soil and ... purple. Not all that interesting unless you're from an area where blight is a problem. At least we'll know we can always live on potatos, which who doesn't anyway ... mmm purple tater-tots." Combine it with the hideous green ketchup Heinz is making, and eating can be like a Kadinsky ^? painting!

Comments

These are NOT genetically modified

[RollingThunder]

They're just an odd variety - although as some other posters have mentioned, purple potatoes are not completely unknown. These purple potatoes are special because of their disease resistance, that's all.

I'm not sure if it's the skin, though, or the entire potato that's purple. The article wasn't very clear.

But in any case, the article is talking about how these will be a boon for ORGANIC farmers. I've not heard of a real organic farmer that used GM species, they tend to hate that more than pesticides!

Re:These are NOT genetically modified

[Kwil]

Depends on the variety.

I buy food from the local farmers market, and we actually get quite a variety of blue/purple potatoes. Some varieties have a purplish skin. Cut it in half and you'll find the flesh is like a normal potato with the exception of a ring of blue about a half inch in from the skin. This typically fades somewhat in the cooking.

Others have a much more bluish tint to the skin. These varieties also tend have the entire flesh colored a washed-out blue-purple. They keep their color when cooked.

As to the taste, well.. it's a potato. There's hardly any difference between the lighter ones and your normal red potatos that I can tell (I'm no gourmet, though). The darker bluish ones I tend to think taste a bit better than regular potatos. They have a more... potato-ey.. flavor. Not sure how to describe it. It's as if they have a bit more of the essence of potato in them. Quite good, especially cubed and fried with a little olive oil and sour-cream to dip.

Extra planetary

[Lonesmurf]

What I think that everyone here is missing is the obvious application of this on extra-planetary colonies. Yes, I know that we don't have any now and that we aren't likely to have any in the next hundred years. There are two reasons that this is very exciting: there aren't likely to be very many nutrients in the soil of, say, mars and diseases will mutate faster because of the increased radiation on other planets without an atmosphere. Also, as was recently hypothesized, there may be microbes in places other than earth and they are likely to not be very healthy for the plants and vegetables that we are going to eat..

Re:screwing with food "cues"..?

[LS]

I'm pretty sure we haven't evolved to detect cues in McNuggets for their edibility, but we can still figure it out. All seriousness aside, Humans have only begun eating tomatoes fairly recently. They are part of the nightshade family (as well as potatoes and eggplant), and were thought to be poisonous until the 1800's.

As for purple potatoes, they are not genetically engineered or out of the ordinary in anyway other than lack of popularity. I've actually bought "blue" potatoes at the market that look purple to me, and are definitely purple after being cooked.

Even if they were rainbow colored, I really don't think it matters too much. We eat rainbow candy and icecream, chicken feet dim sum, oysters, bird nests made of spittle, pig's blood cakes, and all sorts of other things that our bodies probably aren't built for. So no need for the deity to decree that purple potatoes are "unclean".

LS

Re:Why Purple?

[Stephen Samuel]

My parents are from Trinidad (just off the coast of South America). When I've been there, I've come across quite a variety of potatoes. Thes included 'sweet potatoes' which had a purple tint to them. They are sweeter than our 'white' potatoes, and had a slightly different texture.

Yams are also a variety of potato. We North Americans tend to get confused by the color. If you want to try the various styles and colors of potatoes available, skip the Safeway next time you go out to shop, and try some of the (South American) ethnic stores.

In fact, I'd say just try ethnic stores in general! There is a small Vietnamese grocery near my place. They have all sorts of interesting things that I have yet to try. I've been experimenting, lately with different varieties of rice. I've come to texture the texture of brown rice over plain white, and have started experimenting with sticky rice (wow, incredible!). Never would have tried it if I hadn't gotten curious walking through the store, and asked how to cook these things.

People are so willing to share their culture and food with us if we only ask. It's incredible what you can learn by asking someone in a store what to do with a 'strange' plant that they seem to know about.