Heirloom Thursday: All Blue Potatoes

One of the cool things about writing this blog is uncovering mysteries about the origins of certain foods.  Take the All Blue Potato, for example.  About eight of these showed up in our "Dogma Box" last week, and I've been looking forward to some different ways of eating them and wanted to learn more.  It is relatively easy to find a place to buy some (see below) but finding out the history proves much harder!  Some searching revealed that this potato is alternately named Russian Blue, Congo, and Blue of Sweden.  But still no information on origin, and I'm sort of at a dead end, except to find something about these definitely being heirlooms.  So does anybody know how long they've been around?

History: Given the importance of the humble potato throughout the world, it's easy to forget that this food was unheard of outside of North and South America prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The potato was brought back to Europe by the Conquistadores in 1536, and quickly spread. All of the varieties of potato, from waxy reds to starchy whites and many other sorts, are the same species.  There are thousands of potato varieties in Peru, very few of which have spread throughout the world.

Annual Production: I don't know, but probably most of them go to Terra Chips and onwards to Jet Blue.

Growing: All Blues are easy to find as organic seed, although I would assume they are susceptible, like any potato, to numerous diseases.

Eating and Processing: All Blues make excellent chips, home fries, and potato salad.  Just don't make mashed potatoes as they have a good chance of coming out All Grey.

Health Information: These potatoes have got to have something that plain white ones don't, so what is it?  The substances that make potatoes blue fall into the category of anthocyanins, and these are purported to be powerful antioxidants.  According to one intrepid researcher, blue potatoes have as much antioxidant capacity as kale, brussel sprouts, and spinach!  Not only that, but 75% of this is retained after cooking, which often isn't the case for other veggies.

Sustainability: Like any other potato, the temptation and the danger is that these will increase in popularity so much that they become a monoculture potato.  Remember to mix and match your potatoes for variety and preservation of diversity.

Bottom Line: Can't get much more basic than a potato.

Where to Get: Seed Savers Exchange.  Or fly Jet Blue.

Relevant Blog: Oil Changes: Interesting name, and hopefully completely unrelated to oil slicks...

References:
1. Wikipedia
2. History of and Growing Potatoes
3. Harvest your own potatoes!
4. Potato nutrition facts
5. Yeah, they're the ones in the middle.  From Flickr Creative Commons