“There’s a potato for each type of market”

The consumption of potatoes is under pressure. “Fewer and fewer potato eaters are born,” says Gerard Bovée of Plantera. “The days when wives bought 10 kilos of potatoes every week are definitely over.” Potatoes nowadays ‘compete’ with a number of alternative products such as pastas, legumes and various types of grains. Consumers want to be able to vary. Plantera therefore developed a number of potato specialities so that consumers can vary to their heart’s content, and which specifically respond to trends: healthy, organic/PlanetProof and convenience.

Purple Rain contains, as the name suggests, a high content of purple-coloured anthocyanin. The substance is known for its positive health aspects. Anthocyanin is in red cabbage, many different types of fruit (blueberries), but potatoes can also be a source of anthocyanin. “Purple Rain is suitable for cooking, and they can also easily be made into chips or mash,” Gerard says. “Lily Rose is a more pink-coloured potato from our range. This potato is suitable for chips and crisps. Put the different coloured potatoes – purple pink and regular – in one bag and consumers can make yellow, purple and pink chips with them.”

These colours result in a festive plate, and this can also be done with Celebration. “This potato has a festive red-yellow peel, which naturally has a fun effect. Celebration is also great as a snack. Just bake them in the oven with some oil and salt, add a cocktail stick and serve with drinks. In the US, these kinds of concepts are much further along, littlepotatoes.com is a good example of this.”

Small potatoes, for that matter, are gaining more and more ground, Gerard has noticed. “There’s an annual increase of about 20 per cent in packaging with small sizes. In the past, potatoes smaller than 30 mm were thrown away. They couldn’t be peeled, and were therefore processed into feed. Small potatoes are now popular, because they can easily be prepared in the oven. A brilliant peel is a necessity, because it will also be consumed,” Gerard says.