Chit, chit hooray
Chitting potatoes is one of the rites of spring in many a vegetable-growing household. First, there is the enjoyable task of deciding how much space to devote to potatoes and what varieties to grow. In my case, this involves much browsing in catalogues and on the internet, in particular the euphoriainducing website of Pennard Plants, which stocks more than 80 varieties. Each listing includes marvellously informative descriptions of the breeding history, country of origin, flavour and culinary quality, such as floury or waxy, and use, as in mash, chips, roast or salads.
Another attribute covered is whether the variety in question is a first or second early or a maincrop potato, the difference being that earlies are mostly salad potatoes that tend to be expensive to buy in the shops, where there is rarely much choice, while maincrop potatoes are sold everywhere and are generally cheaper.
For this reason, I like to grow earlies rather than maincrop varieties, which also take up a lot of room and are in the ground for a long time, which means they are more susceptible to blight.
February is a good time to start chitting your seed potatoes so that earlies are ready for planting out after six weeks, in mid-March or early April, and maincrop a few weeks later. As a general rule, first earlies are ready to lift in around 10 weeks, second earlies in 13 weeks and maincrop after about 20 weeks. Chitting, for me, involves collecting egg boxes over the winter, carefully examining each tuber to discover the rose end (the one with the most eyes), placing the tubers rose end uppermost in the egg boxes and arranging them in a cool but frost-free place where there is some light, but not in direct sunlight. Don’t forget to label each box with the variety – it’s easy to mix them up when planting out. Short, stubby shoots will sprout in a few weeks.
My favourite salad potato, a second early, is ‘Roseval’, which has smooth, deep pink skin and yellowy flesh with a pink flush. This is a waxy potato with a delicate, buttery flavour. It is perfection in salads, but is also delicious boiled and eaten with a little butter. Similar to ‘Roseval’ but with larger tubers is ‘Rosabelle’. I grew this last year on the allotment where it cropped more profusely than ‘Roseval’ and was almost its equal for flavour.
Hot potato salad is how the family likes to eat these flavoursome French potatoes. Boil them briskly in their skins (which contain nutrients and flavour), cut into 1in-sized pieces and dress while warm with a vinaigrette made from one part white wine vinegar to four parts of the best olive oil you can lay your hands on, salt (Maldon sea salt, if you have it), freshly ground black pepper and some thinly sliced shallot. Add to the salad bowl a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise, preferably homemade, but shop-bought will do, and mix with a very restrained hand so that the pink of the potatoes is still visible. This salad is excellent with cold chicken, and a star at a barbecue, should summer ever emerge again from the interminable rain.
Potato days are the events to go to for a huge range of seed potatoes, often sold by the individual tuber for those wanting to experiment or with only modest growing facilities. Visit www.potato-days.net for details of events around the country. The RHS is holding its first potato day this year as part of the RHS London Plant and Design Show in the Lawrence & Lindley Halls, Westminster. Pennard Plants and other exhibitors will be selling seed potatoes and offering advice, and chefs will be demonstrating potato haute cuisine.
Pennard Plants: 01749-860039, www.pennardplants.com
Royal Horticultural Society: 0845-260 5000, www.rhs.org.uk/londonshows
Another attribute covered is whether the variety in question is a first or second early or a maincrop potato, the difference being that earlies are mostly salad potatoes that tend to be expensive to buy in the shops, where there is rarely much choice, while maincrop potatoes are sold everywhere and are generally cheaper.
For this reason, I like to grow earlies rather than maincrop varieties, which also take up a lot of room and are in the ground for a long time, which means they are more susceptible to blight.
February is a good time to start chitting your seed potatoes so that earlies are ready for planting out after six weeks, in mid-March or early April, and maincrop a few weeks later. As a general rule, first earlies are ready to lift in around 10 weeks, second earlies in 13 weeks and maincrop after about 20 weeks. Chitting, for me, involves collecting egg boxes over the winter, carefully examining each tuber to discover the rose end (the one with the most eyes), placing the tubers rose end uppermost in the egg boxes and arranging them in a cool but frost-free place where there is some light, but not in direct sunlight. Don’t forget to label each box with the variety – it’s easy to mix them up when planting out. Short, stubby shoots will sprout in a few weeks.
My favourite salad potato, a second early, is ‘Roseval’, which has smooth, deep pink skin and yellowy flesh with a pink flush. This is a waxy potato with a delicate, buttery flavour. It is perfection in salads, but is also delicious boiled and eaten with a little butter. Similar to ‘Roseval’ but with larger tubers is ‘Rosabelle’. I grew this last year on the allotment where it cropped more profusely than ‘Roseval’ and was almost its equal for flavour.
Hot potato salad is how the family likes to eat these flavoursome French potatoes. Boil them briskly in their skins (which contain nutrients and flavour), cut into 1in-sized pieces and dress while warm with a vinaigrette made from one part white wine vinegar to four parts of the best olive oil you can lay your hands on, salt (Maldon sea salt, if you have it), freshly ground black pepper and some thinly sliced shallot. Add to the salad bowl a tablespoon or two of mayonnaise, preferably homemade, but shop-bought will do, and mix with a very restrained hand so that the pink of the potatoes is still visible. This salad is excellent with cold chicken, and a star at a barbecue, should summer ever emerge again from the interminable rain.
Potato days are the events to go to for a huge range of seed potatoes, often sold by the individual tuber for those wanting to experiment or with only modest growing facilities. Visit www.potato-days.net for details of events around the country. The RHS is holding its first potato day this year as part of the RHS London Plant and Design Show in the Lawrence & Lindley Halls, Westminster. Pennard Plants and other exhibitors will be selling seed potatoes and offering advice, and chefs will be demonstrating potato haute cuisine.
Pennard Plants: 01749-860039, www.pennardplants.com
Royal Horticultural Society: 0845-260 5000, www.rhs.org.uk/londonshows