Every Potato Explained

Ten potatoes, and the thing that makes each one strange. The fries on almost every fast-food tray come down to a single line — the Russet Burbank, a russet mutation released in 1902. Yukon Gold looks like an heirloom but is younger than the personal computer, bred in Canada in 1980. A red potato barely changes shape in boiling water while a russet falls apart, and that one difference decides how each is cooked. Maris Piper is the UK's most widely grown potato, the backbone of fish and chips. Fingerlings aren't lab creations — they're century-old heirlooms that simply grow that way. Cut a purple potato and the violet runs straight to the core. A "new potato" isn't a variety at all, just any potato dug young. La Bonnotte, grown by hand on one French island, once sold at auction for the price of a luxury good. One mountain range — the Andes — grows more than four thousand kinds, while Europe leaned on so few that a single blight starved a nation. And the humble King Edward hides a quieter fact: the potato is a nightshade, cousin to tobacco. *Potatoes covered:* 0:00 Russet 0:59 Yukon Gold 1:53 Red 2:43 Maris Piper 3:36 Fingerling 4:34 Purple 5:30 New Potato 6:22 La Bonnotte 7:26 Andean Natives 8:27 King Edward #potato #foodscience #foodhistory #explained #cooking