amandine fingerling potato

[jhp]

Here's a question for Tom. I grew potatoes for the first time this summer. Of the four varieties I grew, my favorite was amandine finglerling. Knowing nothing about growing potatoes, or if I'd be able to grow them, I was delighted to find that there were actual potatoes down there after digging a bit. I thought that I had failed at potato growing because the vines never flowered (on the amandine) and then died. I decided that I had to know for sure, so I dug down deep with my trowel and impaled my first fingerling. After that, my husband helped me dig out the rest by hand. I felt like a kid in a candy store, hunting for my treasure! Who knew potatoes would be so fun! This potato was so good. Better than the others I grew. It had a really potatoey flavor. Unfortunately, the yield was pretty low and I had only planted 1 lb of seed potato to start with. There weren't that many big ones to save for seed. So we decided to just go ahead and eat them and enjoy. Now, I go back to the website where I ordered them and they no longer list it. I emailed to ask about it and no reply. I googled and can't seem to find anyone selling it. For next year, I would like to grow more finglerlings. It's rare that I find them at the market here and I really liked the ones I grew. What variety, that is readily available, would be similar to amandine? Or what readily available variety would be a more prolific, tasty, potatoey, fingerling?

Thanks for your time.

Jen

[Tom Wagner]

Jen,

Amandine is one of those protected varieties, and protected varieties are a pain to request. I would have to contact the responsible parties in Canada or the originating country-France.

A bit of history:

AMANDINE FRA 1993 MARIANA x CHARLOTTE From SOCIETE CLAUSE ET UNICOPA

Cooking type Cooked textureFirm (salad type)

Maturity: Very early to early (no wonder it didn't bloom). TUBER CHARACTERISTICS: Primary tuber flesh color- Yellow. Tuber eye depth- Very shallow to shallow. Tuber shape Very long.

The female parent below contributes less to Amandine than the male parent.

MARIANA FRA 1982 APOLLO x HUMALDA

Cooking type Cooked texture- Fairly firm (multi-purpose type)

The male parent is very good in my opinion for eating:

CHARLOTTE FRA 1981 HANSA x DANAE

Cooking type- Cooked texture Firm (salad type)

If you can’t get Amandine, get Charlotte
BTW, here is a nice site to read about Amandine:

http://www.plantdepommedeterre.org/e...3&nom=AMANDINE


Wikipedia search results in part:
The Amandine potato, bred in Brittany, France, Amandine shaws typically produce long tubers with very pale, unblemished skin. Their flesh, firm and also very pale, contains comparatively little starch. Amandine potatoes have become popular in Switzerland.

Knowing well the parents of this new British variety called Harlequin, this one should be good.
HARLEQUIN GB 2003 CHARLOTTE x PINK FIR APPLE

Pink Fir Apple is the same as Rose Fin Apple here in the States.

Another great French potato variety is :

Belle De Fontenay



Kipfler or La Ratte would be great alternatives.

Tom Wagner

[jhp]

Thanks Tom. I will look for the ones that you listed.