Potatoes: Congo
CONGO BLACK (CONGO)
I am indebted to William Whitehead of Birmingham, who spotted my pictures of
Congo on this website and recognised them as Salad Blue. The tubers from which I'd
grown my plants (on sale at Sainsbury's) were misattributed.
He sent me some tubers, and I'm growing them this year. Here are his remarks:
"Dark blue flesh, but unlike Salad Blue, they do not have a white ring around the outer edge.
They look more like black puddings, with blobs of white in the flesh; normally two blobs
at the top end of the tuber".
I was sent the tubers in May, so they are about 6 months old, but they still
photographed fairly well. It seems that the flowers are white, with a possible pale blue
variant.
Alan Wilson describes the texture as "stodgy". He also describes them as small and knobbly.
This fits perfectly with the tubers I've been sent.
Specialist Potatoes, Ltd. say that Congo is pre-1918.
Pictures (click on small images for detail):
Flowers
Tubers
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For comparison - salad blue shown below.
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Seed tubers of this variety can be obtained from JBA Seed Potatoes by clicking the link below:
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
