When to dig them up?

Early? Late? What’s the difference?

there are two main components of a potato – water and starch. The more starch in the potato, the more ‘floury’ it is; the more water, the more ‘waxy’. early potatoes are the waxy new potatoes. You eat these fresh after harvesting. (Never peel them! Just boil them.) Potato growers love digging waxy new potatoes for Christmas dinner, and waxy varieties like ‘Cliff Kidney’ and ‘Jersey Benne’ make the best potato salad.

Late potatoes are the ones left in the ground for longer.

They have a floury texture, brilliant for mashing and for chips. the skins toughen and the tubers can be stored for eating throughout the winter. if you are digging up late potatoes, make sure you don’t spear them accidentally with the fork. dry them thoroughly and store them somewhere cool, dark, and airy and they will last for up to six months.

new potato

A young potato with a thin skin you can easily rub off, new potatoes keep their shape once cooked and cut. they are sweeter because their sugar has not yet changed to starch. as the tops grow i keep mounding them up because this protects the tubers from raging spring winds and sunlight – sun turns them green, and green tubers are poisonous. it also encourages more tubers to grow. if they need water, wet the soil (not the foliage) to avoid blight.

Early varieties are ready to harvest three months after planting. Most varieties now have flowers that are fully opened, but some like ‘Nadine’, ‘Rocket’ and ‘Swift’ have few or no flowers. Main-crop varieties are ready when the foliage dies off, in about 150 days.

if in doubt, try bandicooting.

Bandicooting

this practice involves digging up a few tubers and leaving the top of the plant intact so it will grow more tubers.

• a potato’s nutrients are concentrated just under the skin.

• Small potatoes have more skin relative to flesh, and cook faster, so they lose fewer nutrients.

• unwashed potatoes last longer when stored as the dirt protects them from bruising and wear and tear.

• Red-skinned and yellow-fleshed varieties supply more antioxidants than non-coloured varieties. • Potatoes are the world’s fourth most important food crop, after maize, wheat and rice.

• More than 150 varieties are now grown in new Zealand.