Waxy potatoes

[David King]

Hello,

I'm looking for a really waxy variety of potatoe to grow. The sort of thing
that would be really good as a salad potatoe.

The ones I have in mind are small to medium in size and an elongated shape.
I tried pink fir last year but found them the very devil to clean.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.

Thanks for your help,

David King,
London,
England

[sally basile]

I've grown Russian Banana potatoes for a few years and think that they are a
good salad potato. They are fingerling potatoes, creamy tan colored, not very
big in diameter but some get fairly long.

Sally

[Thoswagner]

> I'm looking for a really waxy variety of potatoe to grow. The sort of thing
>> that would be really good as a salad potatoe.

To David and Sally,

Sally is right about the Russian Banana Fingerling. It is a potato that
can be cooked in boiling water, seemingly forever, and it still does not fall
apart. Interesting potato history too! Appears that Russian sailors brought
it from the Baltic area to Alaska, Canada and NW United States back in 1853.
They traded with Native American Indians along the coasts during their fur
trades. They would have have these pots of potatoes that they would reheat or
keep heated and the firmness appealed to them. I am not so sure if you have
them in the UK. They have become quite popular here in the USA and Canada in
the last few years. Others similar would be Peanut, German Fingerling, French
Fingerling, Belle de Fontenay, etc.

Most potato breeding programs don't use the so-called waxy clones in their
pedigree background. I am one of the exceptions in the breeding world, since I
am actively using such clones as parents in countless crosses. I developed
many new lines over the years of these fingerlings and with all sorts of
colors. I have deep yellow, deep blue, deep red, and bicolored flesh types
that make for great combo salads of these colors. I also have fingerlings that
if cut up and put in boiling water, cook in 4 minutes.

I have great success in the local market selling samples of my breeding work.
I always suggest cooking and recipe details with the many hundreds of varieties
that I have collected or bred.

Tom of California