Mmm ... Purple Disease-Resistant Potatoes 277
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!
Re:Why Purple? (Score:2, Interesting)
The homogenization of varieties led to blight spreading too easily, and rediscovery of "heirloom" foods (popularly tomatoes and roses-- the tomatoes are tastier and the roses better-smelling, although not as good for shipping long distances) has become something of an organic-hippie fad. That's good.
If everything becomes purple potatoes, i imagine it'll be back to homogenization again.
a.
These are NOT genetically modified (Score:4, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Puple skin or inside? (Score:2, Interesting)
Extra planetary (Score:3, Interesting)
DEFINITELY TRY THESE!!! (Score:2, Interesting)
You can also cut them in big chunks and make "steak fries". They look normal on the outside (i.e., brown), but they're purple on the inside.
I've never had a guest flip out over the color, other than to remark on how nice they look.
Re:screwing with food "cues"..? (Score:3, Interesting)
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 [palomar.edu] 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
blue potatoes, watermelon tomatoes, etc. (Score:2, Interesting)
Having been a normal supermarket shopper until a few years ago, these boxes contain spectacular produce. Nobody usually remembers that tomatoes aren't supposed to be hard, bright red and crunchy (or pasty).
Anyway the point is, they've had blue/purple potatoes in that box for years -- probably not the resistant kind. They're good and kind of fun to eat.
Beyond that, there are all kinds of funky tomatoes you've never seen. Last week we got these green tomatoes that were striped kind of like a watermelon. They were tart yet ripe -- really neat. There's yellow ones all gnarled up that are really good, orange, red, of all shapes and sizes.
All kinds of other funky foods come. Did you know there are many types of garlic some of which really are better than the standard grocery store Italian? Ever had a ground cherry (a bit like a tomatillo but sweet)?
The point is, there's a lot of "odd" foods out there that really aren't odd at all. We've just never seen them because it's so much easier to grow a field of identical, drought-resistant, disease-resistant, shipping-friendly idaho spuds than anything else. I encourage people to support their local farmer's markets and try Community Supported Agriculture -- not only is it earth-friendly but you get cool vegetables as well!
Re:Why Purple? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.