"Heideniere" potato of the year 2015"

The potato harvest is off to a good start, and delivers fine results in terms of flavor and quality. Late species can partially be harvest up until November. The bulbs are among the commonly bought foods of organic quality. They are about five percent of the total revenue on the potato market. The ecological agriculture promotes diversity. By now there are 170 different types of organic potato on the German market. Among these are also very rare and old species, which are often only available for sale directly at the farm shops or on the local weekly market.

Potato of the year
Among these belongs the “Heideniere”, which has been elected “Potato of the year” 2015. She is deep yellow and waxy. She got her name due to her remarkable shape. Kidney-shaped potatoes are rare. With the approval application, which was provided in 1953 after 14 years of breeding work, the Lower Saxon breeders highly praised their potatoes: She is an excellent salad potato, as well as a delicacy potato for hotel companies. Despite its good properties, marketing for the Heideniere was difficult. Special species could not assert themselves anymore after the war. In this time, the market wanted “satiating ingredients”: potatoes that promise high yields.

The “Heideniere” was forgotten, but was nevertheless lucky, because she was preserved in East-German gene banks. The Verein zur Erhaltung der Nutzpflanzenvielfalt (VEN) has revived her again. During cultivation the association noticed that the Heideniere is very resistant to tuber rot, and has an outstanding taste. This makes her interesting for ecological agriculture.

Diversity of species
The Heideniere is a mid-early species and suitable as both a boiled- and a salad potato. She distinguishes herself from many other species in looks, taste, ripening time and her cooking properties. There are organic potatoes that cook floury, mostly waxy, and waxy. They ripen early, mid-early or late. Their colors vary from yellow to pink and lilac to blue-black, and they can be round, oval or elongated.

Quelle: www.oekolandbau.de