Since We're On the Subject of Potatoes...

 

 

 



Potato culture just fascinates me.  Why do some nightshades, like eggplants and peppers, produce their fruits above ground while potatoes produce theirs in the form of tubers underground?  I did see some fruit-like growths on top of my potato plants one year, but it's the only year out of the over 15 years I've been cultivating potatoes that I'd ever seen those non-edible fruits form from the flowers.  Very odd. 

In any event, it thrills me to look at the lush growth above the soil and, once the plants have flowered, to imagine the tubers underneath the surface pushing the soil out of their way as they grow larger and larger.  This photo shows some of my "Warba-Pink Eye" potatoes that I harvested in September 2012 (hover over photo and click to see larger).  I had robbed every plant of some tubers before this point in the harvest, so the photo shows what was left of the plant's tubers once I'd already robbed several over the preceding weeks.  The summer of 2012 saw my most productive potato harvest ever - 44 pounds from my 9' x 4' plot in a raised bed.  Forty-four pounds of potatoes would have kept an Irish man fed for only 4 days during the 1800s in Ireland, when the average person consumed about 10 to 14 pounds of potatoes per day - and nothing else.  Of course, potatoes are only one source of many types of food for us, so we still have over 10 pounds of last summer's harvest left in storage.  They're starting to sprout, so I'm using them more frequently. 

This is a basket of Warba Pink Eye potatoes harvested in September 2012.  As of February 10, 2013, we still have some left, and they're still looking pretty good!


The varieties I grew this past summer were Warba-Pink Eyes, Chieftains, Yukon Gems and Purple Vikings, along with one experimental tuber - the bright red ones pictured below in the pan grew from an organic potato that I bought at Whole Foods and that had started to sprout on the kitchen counter.  I figured it couldn't hurt (too much) to plant it, and it turned out to be very productive! 

The tubers I actually purchased for planting were in excellent shape when they arrived from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds (www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com), and they produced a sizeable and healthy harvest.  This week, I'll be selecting next season's varieties, which will surely include a golden-fleshed type, a white-fleshed type, and varieties with different skin colors.  I try to select all-around potatoes that can be used for boiling, mashing or roasting, because I'm not very good at remembering which ones are best for which method of cooking.  My intentions are always to remember these details, but as the summer wears on, my memory wears out :-)

One recent experiment with my potato supply was an effort at cabbage and potato soup.  The only cabbage-like plant that I had in the garden in late November was a mature Portuguese kale, which is very much like a collard and which had formed a large head like a cabbage (they're all brassicas and are often interchangeable in recipes). 

 

 

 



Once the veggies were cooked and tender, I used my immersion blender to achieve a smooth texture and seasoned the soup with salt and pepper.  I was a little disappointed to find the taste quite bland and unappealing, though, so I ventured into my snow-covered backyard and harvested a nice bunch of French sorrel.  I quickly sauteed the sorrel in some butter and added that to the pot, using my immersion blender again to mix it in.  The sorrel made all the difference in terms of brightening up the flavor and adding that subtle lemony kick that sorrel is known for.  Here is the final result, topped with a dollop of creme fraiche:

 

Not a bad soup, given its humble beginnings as Portuguese kale and potatoes!