Harlequin potatoes

[squeezyjohn]

I grew these last year ... they were fab, smooth-skinned, productive, delicious waxy salad potatoes that stored well and I just had to have them again in greater quantity this year.  But my local garden centre that has a huge range said they wouldn't have any this year.  So I resorted to the internet ... all the online shops said they were out of stock apart from Sarah Raven with a hefty price tag of £5.95/kg but I really wanted them so I went for 2 bags.

The thing is that they arrived today ... and despite being bagged up and labeled as such I don't think they are Harlequins.  The harlequins I grew last year were smooth, finger-like tubers that tapered towards one end with little semi circles around the eyes and pink flushes against cream skin. They looked like the ones pictured on the Sarah Raven website in fact.  The ones I received have deep pitted eyes and are pink all over ... they look suspiciously like Anya potatoes to me, I've attached a picture below.

I suppose my question is could there be more than one strain of Harlequin?  Or do potatoes sometimes look very different if grown for seed?  And if the nursey insist that these are Harlequins, what do I do then?  Or am I worrying about nothing?

I have contacted the nursery and they've said they will send a replacement order, but if they're wrong too then that's not much help.

[squeezyjohn]

[johhnyco15]

this is a pic from fothergills i must say they look the same as yours

[George the Pigman]

I grew some a couple of years ago and they were knobbly like the one in your photo so you might have the right order -or it could be Pink Fir Apple. They are a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte which given how knobbly the former is  explains why they look like that. Have a look http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/pot41.html.
I agree they have a lovely flavour. I tried to get them last year but they weren't around locally.

[pumkinlover]

Your potato doesn't look the right colour even. I had forgotten how nice harlequin is.

[squeezyjohn]

I'm more and more convinced these are not Harlequins.  The seed potatoes last year and every single tuber I produced were almost completely smooth with not a single deep pitted eye.  Every single one of the seed potatoes I was sent have pitted eyes ... and the skins are completely pink.

[saddad]

They certainly don't look like the Harlequin I grew last year which were much smoother..

Another reason why I pick up my seed potatoes at a potato day or a large garden centre so I can see what I'm getting!

[squeezyjohn]

Well ... Sarah Raven have got back to me and said the following:

"we have investigated this matter and checked all our stock at the nursery and with the growers and would like to assure you that these are definitely Harlequin seed potatoes.

The growers have advised the following:

'Harlequin is a potato that has been bread with Pink fir apple and so carries some of its characteristics, especially the pink colour on the skin.
Some years this can be more subtle than others, as is the same with king Edwards, this is due to soil types and growing conditions."

It's difficult to come back to that despite the fact that the seed potatoes bear a remarkably different morphology to those which I have seen with my own eyes in the variety.  So I will take their word for it and plant these potatoes.

If the resulting crop are totally different from Harlequins too, where does that leave me?  What are the laws and rights with seed labeling?

[pumkinlover]

Our  local potato day reports that there was a crop failure with Harlequin. I I R C they use JBA potatoes as supplier.

[Paulh]

A potato that has been "bread" ... crumbs!

Write back to them to say that you will "reserve your rights" and will take it further if your crop is not Harlequin. By law, what they sell on the retail market has to meet the description given. If what you dig up is not satisfactory, send them pictures.

[dicky]

I grew these last year, nice spud and they stored into November.
They were left in the ground a bit long and broke up if boiled too hard in the end but roasted nicely.

Dicky
http://dickysfarm.blogspot.co.uk

[saddad]

Have been round all the GC's in about a 10 mile radius.... haven't been able to find any Harlequin anywhere...

[squeezyjohn]

Yeah - I think there basically aren't any this year and I suspect the supplier that sold it to Sarah Raven has given them fir apples or something like Anya ...

My favourite garden centre in Wantage (who I got the real Harlequins from last year) have 2kg bags of Ratte for £6 (compare Sarah Raven who it would cost £16 to get the same amount from inc. P&P) ... I've never grown Ratte but they sound like a great alternative salad potato to Harlequin - and they're not knobbly to peel like fir apple.

They have a stunning range of seed potatoes ... and will be selling them as part of a "seed potato day" being hosted in Whitchurch Hants this coming weekend.

[galina]

We won't be going this year, but the Whitchurch Potato Day is absolutely fabulous, our favourite and we have been to a few.  Not just potatoes but a huge range of seeds and bulbs as well.  For seedsavers there is also a great seed swap table and the talk by Chris from Sparsholt College is not to be missed either.  Enjoy! 

[squeezyjohn]

The saga continues ...

I had a very informative chat with some potato experts at the Hampshire Potato Day in Whitchurch ... the upshot of which was to their knowledge there was no availability of Harlequin potatoes this year due to crop failure.  They identified my seed potatoes as Pippa from my description ... and showed me examples which look identical to what I was sent.

Furthermore, they told me how to cross reference the unique crop number shown on seed potato labels with a website called SASA where you could discover the variety and grower.  The number on the label saying "Harlequin" was 110195 ... this corresponds on their database to the variety Pippa grown by Strathmore ... I have to say I quite like experts!!!

I don't like being lied to.  There must be some mechanism to report such behaviour.

[George the Pigman]

That's interesting squeezyjohn. Pippa are a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Adora whist Harlequin are between Pink Fir Apple and Charlotte. Very bad of them not to inform you they were substituting Pippa for Harlequin.
I can understand that crop failures happen from time to time but they should have contacted you before hand to ask if you would accept Pippa as a substitute.
It's even worse that they carried on trying to claim it was Harlequin.

[squeezyjohn]

I know the two varieties share parentage ... but they also vary quite differently in how you should grow them.  Harlequin is classed as a 2nd early and Pippa is classed as a late maincrop.

I have sent a fairly blunt email asking for my money back.

[pumkinlover]

Please keep us informed. Interesting thread.

[squeezyjohn]

Well I have got my money back from Sarah Raven in full ... credit where it's due - there was no argument this time and an apology.  They have taken the fake Harlequin off their website.  It would be interesting to know whether they're going to contact the people who have already bought them to let them know they were not the real deal.

SASA have asked me to send them two of the tubers for DNA testing to prove they are actually Pippa and not Harlequin ... for a government agency they seem to take this really seriously!  They say they'll get to the bottom of how the mis-labeling ocurred and act accordingly.  They also told me that I should not under any circumstances attempt to grow my own remaining few tubers from last year or Harlequin potatoes that are sold for eating. 

I shall be growing Ratte as an alternative salad potato sold to me by the nice man who told me how to check it all out for less than half the price of the expensive online branded shop!

[Paulh]

"They also told me that I should not under any circumstances attempt to grow my own remaining few tubers from last year or Harlequin potatoes that are sold for eating." 

Did they give any reason for that?

[squeezyjohn]

Yes, they said that a lot of the crops were hit by blight early in the season, that was the reason for the failed crop of seed potatoes and harlequin are a more susceptible variety.  Although some are on sale as specialist potatoes for eating, they may have had blight and been sprayed for it to allow the potatoes to reach maturity but they couldn't guarantee that they would be 100% blight free.

I suppose he had to say that in his official capacity, but I'm still doubtful about blight carrying over in stored tubers.  I've seen blighted tubers and there's no way it would get through winter to plant ... they just rot!

Frankly I think with the amount of volunteer potatoes I see coming up in mine and other people's plots are far more likely to pose a blight risk than a tuber that has been harvested, stored and replanted!