Not so long ago an exotic vegetable appeared on the store shelves - purple potatoes. At first, consumers were wary of it, but when useful properties became known, the situation immediately changed. Besides the exotic color of the pulp allows cooks to create culinary masterpieces, different original appearance. However, while in our country, this kind of potato is not grown on an industrial scale, but for your own summer cottage you can easily order seed in the online store.
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Description and characteristics of the purple potato varieties
A characteristic feature of this potato is not only the exotic color of the skin, but also the pulp. Wherein shades range from pale pink to deep purple. This unusual plant was obtained without the use of methods of gene modification: specialists used exclusively methods of classical selection. We crossed our usual potato with its wild relative from South America.
The general differences of varieties with purple pulp include:
- tubers have oblong shape;
- the pulp does not lose its color even after heat treatment;
- there is a large number of useful trace elementspromoting immunity;
- very well kept thanks to thick skin.
After cooking, the pulp has a characteristic nut flavor, which also favorably distinguishes these varieties and expands the possibilities of application in cooking.
What are the purple pulp varieties called?
Breeders are really carried away by the breeding of varieties with purple flesh, so now there are quite a lot of them already. But domestic farmers often call this variety much simpler: blue potatoes. However, the essence of this does not change.
Potatoes with purple flesh are still in the development stage, but already now it is possible to purchase some varieties with different color intensity for their summer cottage. The most popular are:
- French purple truffle;
- Black woman;
- Chinese truffle;
- Vithelotte;
- Gourmet;
- Russian black.
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- Black woman
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- Chinese truffle
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- French purple truffle potatoes
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- Vitelotte
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- Russian black
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- Gourmet
We don’t have to talk about the volumes sufficient for industrial cultivation, but the stores are happy to present to their customers the indicated varieties for growing in dacha beds.
The benefits and harm of potatoes
Purple potatoes deserve attention not only because of the unusual appearance and bright color. It has a lot of useful and healing properties. For example, if you cook a dish from it in any way, you can easily reduce blood pressure in the human body. At the same time, this potato can harm people suffering from low blood pressure, should be avoided in the menu of colored potato dishes.
Due to the presence of antioxidants, purple potatoes can slow down the aging process. Its composition contains a large amount of vitamins C, E and carotinoids. The product is not genetically modified, and its unusual color is the result of crossing with wild African and equatorial varieties.
Regular consumption of colored potatoes is conducive to improving vision and strengthening the walls of blood vessels. Thereby reduced risk of atherosclerosis. Also reduces the risk of developing certain types of cancer.
Use in cooking
In practice, the same dishes are prepared from purple potatoes as from white or cream. At the same time, they differ in their original look.
Colored potatoes are used in the diet, since it contains not only a huge amount of vitamins and trace elements, but also with a high level of starch content does not lead to obesity. This is achieved due to the metabolic activity of other substances.
Cultivating a variety
How to grow such potatoes in your summer cottage
Landing is carried out in two ways: traditional (tubers) and seeds. For the second option, you must first germinate the seeds, then grow the seedlings at home, and then transplant it into the open ground. Seeds are planted in April, and seedlings are transplanted into the open ground no sooner than in the middle of May.
When planting tubers planting period is observed the same as for ordinary potatoes.
Soil preparation
Try to choose a light soil for planting purple potatoes. Oxygen should easily penetrate into it and do not stagnate excessive moisture. An excellent option would be neutral sandy loams, as well as flood plain and sod-podzolic soils. Before the onset of the first frost conduct a rough primary digging of the selected area.. During frosts, the larvae of the pests that were in the inverted soil will die.
With the onset of heat, when the minimum soil temperature reaches 5 ° C, begin planting. Pre-re-digging of the soil is done, the wells are prepared with the addition of wood ash. The distance between the rows should be at least half a meter, and between the holes it is kept at the level 30 centimeters. Depth of landing reaches 10 centimeters.
Planting and care
If the soil in the selected area is dry, then watering should be carried out at least three times: immediately after germination, during flowering and immediately after it. In the absence of rain plants should be irrigated at least once a week. If there is a lot of moisture, fungal diseases will develop, and with its lack of planting they can dry out.
After the emergence of purple potato shoots it must be weed regularly and remove weeds. When a crust appears on the soil, it should be loosened. Regularly treated beds with drugs against the Colorado potato beetle, late blight and other common pests and diseases.
While purple potatoes fall into the category of delicacies. But thanks to the hard work of domestic breeders, it is quite realistic that soon it will become available to any category of the population, since it benefits the human body. It would be great because useful properties of this product make you think seriously about the industrial scale of cultivation colored potatoes in our country.