Topic: Which Early Potato had the best flavour?

[Digeroo]

At last I have found an Early which I like.  Its Sharpes Express.  Good flavour, good jacketted in the microwave.  Great crop in very dry year.  I grew nine different early potatoes (only 5 of each) and it is a clear winner. 

[sawfish]

my Lady Christl and Wilja have been lovely but I can't see past Ayrshire Epicure.

[calendula]

Altesse for me - top points in every aspect

[Digeroo]

Very disappointed myself by lady christl.  Little taste and poor crop.  Though I may try it again on lottie since soil is very different from garden.

I hope to try another 9 next year.  I had never realised there were so many different varieties.

[1066]

I tried Lady Crystl and Red Duke of York this year, and was also equally disappointed by Lady C on flavour, the Red Duke of York won hands down. What you say about soil type is pertinent Digeroo, I'm sure it has a big impact on how spuds taste. I'll make a note of Sharpes Express for next year and give it a try.

1066  :)

[Kepouros]

Digeroo, you`ll find that your Sharpes Express make wonderful chips, and I rate them as better than even Maris Piper for this.  Just cook them twice, once at low temperature until they`re soft, take them out of the pan and drain them until they`re quite cold, and then cook again at high temperature for a few minutes and they`ll finish up crisp on the outsides and soft and fluffy inside.  I`ve been growing them on and off since 1948,  Their only drawback is that they`re a comparatively poor cropper.

[hedgeman]

I grew Sharps Express last year and they looked good but when cooking them they just fell to bits!!

[sawfish]

interesting that your Lady Christl were tasteless. The ones I had were great, so the soil must make a difference. I've got very dense clay loam. Planted them with manure and bonemeal.

[Tin Shed]

The best were Aaran Pilot and Maris Peer.  Used to grow Accent, but you can't get them any more - Accord are apparently are a 'sister' potato which I tried, but they are not as good.

[Emagggie]

Oh how I'm hating this!! I love spuds of all kinds, but this year I grew Charlottes, Anya and another which I can't remember the name of. All have looked good and produced well.Much better than the last 3 years. I've had no sense of taste for 4 months now,so I don't know if they taste of anything at all. :'( :'( Might as well eat mice droppings. :(

[1066]

interesting that your Lady Christl were tasteless. The ones I had were great, so the soil must make a difference. I've got very dense clay loam. Planted them with manure and bonemeal.

Mine are on heavy clay, which had been manured the previous year. And got mulched with anything I could lay my hands on! I really do think regional differences in soil etc make a big difference to how spuds taste

And Emaggie - poor you!!

1066  :)

[mpdjulie]

This year at Ryton’s Potato Day we purchased four of about 20 different potatoes.  We did it for trialing taste, yield and disease resistance.  So far we have dug up:
Marfona – very bad slug damage with low yields but haven’t eaten yet
Wilja – low yields and no damage but again haven’t eaten yet
Saxon – heavy yields but again heavy slug damage and taste wasn’t anything exceptional
Anya – very high yields with no damage and they tasted very nice quite nutty tasting
But by far the best was the Yukon Gold with large spuds and a very large yield with no damage and they tasted excellent and great for roasting, baking, chipping and mash.
Julie
 :)

[earlypea]

Sharpes Express went down very well here.  It seems to have absolutely classic new potato qualities and I used it steamed, never thought to bake it.  Only negative point was it was pretty late.

But it was pushed into second position by Charlotte - I was bowled over by it's melting, creamy, sweet and earthy taste and it was my earliest by far with highest yield.

I didn't bother with Charlotte last year because I tend to think if you can get it in the supermarket it's not worth it, but because of the raves here I thought I'd try it again.

Red Duke of York was good too, but I didn't get to it before it was jacket potato size - lovely crispy skins cooking it that way and flavoursome yellow flesh.

I wouldn't bother with Pentland Javelin here again.  For me they were totally bland and had the texture of a Tesco's budget potato.  I didn't even like the shape, kind of oblong.  Large, big yields.

(p.s. I would define my earth type if I could but it seems different around the plot.  Think I need to gather some from various beds and work it out - some loam, some clay in varying proportions - climate - sunny SE)

[antipodes]

Think I said this before, but this year I grew a variety called Agata, which gave beautiful early spuds, think skins, nice tender flesh with greatflavour. But not sure if you can get them in the UK. I will be doing those again next year, they are also very cold tolerant in early spring.

[laurieuk]

Every variety tastes different in different soil and weather conditions I always grow  Rocket , Kestrel and Cara they suit my soil and conditions although this year with the dry weather Rocket tend to mash rather when cooked .

[Emagggie]

Someone on here solved the mashed pot problem last year. If you cook them in the micro for 6-7 mins with no water they are fine.

Thanks 1066. Sorry about the moan. :)

[Dadnlad]

Swift were really early but pretty tasteless :(

Arran Pilot were great  [again] :D

Red Duke of York - just finishing off the last few - excellent floury bakers :D

Ballydoon [from Ryton] were new for us - lovely buttery taste ;D


Start digging our 2nds this weekend !

[Spudbash]

In past years, I've often noted the flavour of home-grown and other potatoes and I agree that flavour depends on soil, watering and other factors, as well as the variety. This year is a very odd one for potatoes as far as I'm concerned, with flavour, texture and yield generally below par. My Red Duke of York were a disgrace! ::)

If I've learned anything from my spuds this year, it's that my pot-grown Anyas perform better than others in a weird season. That said, I still have a few pot- and soil-grown plants to try.

Every year brings surprises, doesn't it? It's curiosity that keeps me gardening!  ;D

[BoardStupid]

To be fair I've only had my new plot for 6 weeks so can't really comment.

But, I stuck some nicola tubers in and dug a couple up this weekend. Bloomin lovely if you ask me  ;D

I've now stuck some duke of york and maris peer for some late tasty goodness I hope

[Jeannine]

Charlotte, and I know it is a second early but it beat Rocker so may times that we treat it as an early now.

XX Jeannine