Some Potato Varieties and Their Characteristics Irish Cobbler Vine Maturity: Very Early Yield: Medium Storability: Moderate

Description: Tubers are round with deep stem and apical ends, deep eyes, creamy skin, and creamy white flesh.

Texture after cooking: Fairly firm.

Good for boiling. Relatively dry when baked. Heirloom cultivar. Reported to have been first grown by an Irish shoemaker in

Massachusetts. The major strong point is its earliness. Widely adapted as a home garden cultivar. Susceptible to many potato diseases

including common scab. “Cobbler” is a synonym.

French Fingerling Vine Maturity: Very Early Yield: Medium Storability: Good

Description: Tubers are oval and semi-flattened with shallow eyes, smooth white skin and white flesh.

Texture after cooking: Firm, waxy.

Excellent for salads, roasting and sautéing. Heirloom cultivar. It has been said that this cultivar arrived in N.A. from Europe in a horse’s

feedbag. Resistant to common scab.

Red Norland Vine Maturity: Early Yield: Medium Storability: Good

Description: Tubers are oblong with moderately shallow eyes, red skin, and white flesh.

Texture after cooking: Firm, moist.

Very good for boiling. Moist when baked. Developed in North Dakota. Widely grown as a commercial cultivar. Resisitant to common

scab. Is a darker-skinned selection from the red-skinned “Norland”. An even darker red-skinned selection, ‘Dark Red Norland”, is also

available.

Yukon Gold Vine maturity: Main season Yield: Med-high Storability: Good

Description: Tubers are round with shallow eyes and distinct pink buds, yellow skin, and yellow flesh.

Texture after cooking: Fairly firm.

Excellent for boiling. Moderately moist when baked. Can also be used for French fries. Developed in Ontario, Canada. Widely adapted

and currently by far the most popular yellow-fleshed cultivar in NA. It is among the top five most widely grown cultivars in Canada and

among the top ten in the United States. Some dealers have used the name “Yukon Gold” to sell other yellow-fleshed cultivars.

Susceptible to common scab and hollow heart.

Kennebec Vine maturity: Main season Yield: High Storability: Good

Description: Tubers are oval to oblong with thin, white skin and white flesh.

Texture after cooking: Firm, moderately mealy.

Good for boiling, chips and French fries. Mealy when baked. Named after the Kennebec river in Maine. Widely adapted to many

different growing conditions throughout the world. Because of its consisitent performance this cultivar is frequently used as a standard

for comparative purpose s with new potential cultivars. Tends to produce sunburned tubers. Some resistance to late blight. Susceptible

to common scab and Verticillum wilt.

Russet Burbank Vine maturity: Late Yield: High Storability: Excellent

Description: Long tubers with shallow eyes, russet skin, and white flesh.

Texture after cooking: mealy

Most popular cultivar for making French fries. Tends to break apart after boiling. Dry and mealy when baked.

Most widely grown cultivar in the US and Canada. Produces knobby tubers if water supply is irregular. Produces a high number of

tubers, recommended in-row spacing is 14-18 inches apart. Synonyms: California Russet, Golden Russet, Netted Gem, Idaho Russet,

Idaho Baker.

All Blue Vine maturity: Late Yield: Medium Storability: Good

Description: Medium-sized, oblong, slightly irregularly shaped with moderately deep eyes, blue skin, and blue flesh.

Texture after cooking: Moderately mealy.

Excellent for microwaving, brightly colored salads, and blue chips. Moist when baked. Color may leach out during boiling, but not if

microvaved, baked roasted or fried. Heirloom cultivar, high in antioxidants. Has more synonyms than any other potato cultivar: Black

Russian, Blue Congo, Blue Marker, British Columbia Blue, Congo, Congo Blue, Davis Purple, Eureka Purple, Fenton Blue, Himalayan

Black, McIntosh Black, Nova Scotia Blue, Purple Congo, Purple Mountain, River John Blue, Sharon’s Blue, and Shaw #7

Russian Banana Vine Maturity: Late Yield: Med-Low Storability: Good.

Description: Fingerling type tubers have light yellow skin and pale yellow flesh

Texture after cooking: Firm, semi-mealy.

Excellent for salads, can also be used for baking, boiling, and raosting. Holds together well when boiled. Heirloom cultivar, probably

the most popular fingerling. Produces 12-20 small banana shaped tubers per plant, so recommended in-row spacing is 12-16 inches.

Also called Banana Fingerling.