Purple potatoes bring variety to your plate and also help to preserve the diversity of varieties. The extraordinary potatoes are becoming increasingly popular. Here you can find out what makes the purple tubers so special.
Purple, blue or red: potatoes come in different colors and shapes. Nature offers an incredible variety of fruits and vegetables. Rare varieties such as purple potatoes can seem downright alien. At first glance, you might think they are artificially colored.
It’s just an old variety. In most cases, varieties are grown that are as productive and robust as possible. Other varieties, such as purple potatoes, are less common – with them, the variety in our supermarkets and on our plates is dwindling.
Incidentally, conventionally grown fruit and vegetables are often contaminated with harmful pesticides. Producers often exploit land and people so that they can offer their goods as cheaply as possible. As a consumer, you can counteract this by buying organic fruit and vegetables, growing them yourself and supporting small farmers in your region.
Purple potatoes: There are these different varieties
There is also a selection of different varieties of purple potatoes. They differ not only in their shapes and colors, but also vary in taste and consistency.
Some of the best-known purple potato varieties include:
The Vitelotte: It is characterized by its dark skin and strong, nutty taste.
Bleu de la Manche: The variety has a blue-violet skin and is very popular in France because of its fine taste.
Salad Blue: As the name suggests, the variety is particularly good for salads. Due to its intense dark violet color, it stands out visually.
How to prepare purple potatoes
Just like their yellow relatives, purple potatoes can be divided into floury and waxy varieties. Basically, you can use them in the kitchen just like conventional yellow potatoes.
Mealy purple potatoes are particularly good in mashed potatoes, potato soup, potato casseroles or baked potatoes. For potato salad, homemade fries or fried potatoes, on the other hand, you should rather use the waxy version.
Cook purple potatoes whole with their skins on to keep their intense color. Use as little water as possible to cook the potatoes: the coloring substances dissolve easily in the water. Mealy potatoes tend to lose more color than waxy ones. If you bought the potatoes in organic quality, you can easily eat the skin when they are cooked.
With purple potatoes you can not only bring a variety of tastes to your plate. Their unusual color turns even simple potato recipes into real eye-catchers.
