DIGGING UP THE DIRT: All you need to know about potatoes and their cookery BY MALLORY FRAYN
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POTATO IS A POTATO IS A potato. Or is it? According to Rosemary Wotske of Poplar Bluff Organics, over 6,000 different varieties of potatoes have been identified in the gene bank in Peru, with more wild varieties regularly being discovered. “There’s a tremendous amount of breeding being done, so 6,000 is probably conservative,” she adds. Having obtained her Bachelor of Science in physiology and biochemistry, a Master’s in plant genetics, and having grown potatoes for the past 35 years, Wotske knows better than anyone the diversity that exists when it comes to this staple food source. However, according to both Canadian and 32 Culinaire | July/August 2022
Agria potatoes courtesy Poplar Bluff Organics
American statistics, only about a third of potatoes grown are consumed fresh, with the remainder of crops going to processed applications like French fries. Traditionally, potatoes have been divided into two different categories, starchy potatoes and waxy potatoes. Starchy potatoes, like Russets, have lower water and sugar content, but higher starch, as the name implies. This makes them ideal for applications in which you want the creaminess of the potatoes to shine through, or when you’re aiming for crunch. Starchy potatoes are thus great in everything from mashed potatoes to French fries, or even just a standard baked potato with all the fixings. Waxy potatoes have the opposite
makeup. They are higher in moisture and sugar, while being lower in starch, which allows them to hold their shape better throughout the cooking process. Varieties like fingerling and new potatoes all fall under the waxy category and are great for summer potato salads, or just boiled with butter. If you’re in search of something a bit different, keep an eye out for the Columba potato, a waxier variety that is excellent in potato salads, and has a buttery, almond flavour. While this binary categorization of waxy versus starchy is typically used to classify potatoes as one or the other, Wotske cautions that the continuum between extremely waxy and extremely starchy potatoes is quite long, so you
