Potatoes - Heather
Good yielder in pots; strong, heavy haulms. Yield
around 2 lbs in 3 gallon container. Mild taste, white flesh; reminded me of Pentland Dell; midway between floury and waxy; a bit like Nadine. Jack Dunnett variety - beautiful heather-coloured purple skins.
Jack Dunnett describes it as a token variety; an example of a
visually distinct class of industrial potato which he campaigned for
unsuccessfully in the past. He also suggested a few years ago that it
might be useful
in developing pharmaceuticals by genetic engineering - the genetic
"marker" of purple skin rendering it distinct and therefore a way
of keeping it out of the domestic food chain.
Since then, anti-GM feeling has grown, especially
in Europe, and growing genetically engineered plants capable of
crossing with wild types seems to be a political no-go area.
I wonder what the future will bring.
- UPDATE, Jul 2012. These are now available again through JBA Seeds; kindly sent by Ian Barbour. I have grown this for the last three years; very little trouble with pests, and a reliable cropper. In containers the tubers are quite large.
Flowers are purple and yellow.
Pictures (click on small images for detail):
Flowers
Tubers
Seed tubers of this variety can be obtained from JBA Seed Potatoes by clicking the link below:
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
