Through culinary evolutions and revolutions, potatoes remain on the menus of western cultures. One reason is that the potato is hard to ruin. It is forgiving of your cooking errors and ends up edible even if you have the least cooking skill and pay minimal attention.

For people who know nothing at all about cooking and detest the kitchen, the food processing industry invented instant potatoes, which are both faster and easier to prepare than the real thing, though its flavor and texture resemble potato’s like a horse-and-buggy resembles the automobi

All the different kinds
The number of varieties of potatoes cultivated all over the world is huge. What farmers can grown economically, harvest effectively, transport without damage and store for a relatively long time without deterioration dictate the few choices available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada.

What consumers are willing to accept also influences farmers’ decision. Like everything else on the market, what is available in the produce section of your local grocery store is a series of compromises-not necessarily the best but always available (therefore recognizable), inexpensive and reasonably good.

Mealy or waxy

As cooks, we can appraise potatoes from two points of view-culinary use and appearance. For culinary purposes there are two broad classes. Which one you choose for what culinary purpose determines how the potato looks on your plate:

1. The dry, fluffy, starchy, mealy types which produce the most appealing and tasty baked potatoes. These are also good choices for frying and deep-frying as they absorb less oil. These potatoes tend to fall apart when you boil them.

2. The waxy, moist types with lower starch content that hold up well and firmer when you cook them in water. They are best as boiled and scalloped potatoes or in potato salads. These varieties still taste good baked, but sacrifice the dry fluffy texture.

The kind you happened to have in your pantry dictates how you should prepare them. But don’t hesitate to use one kind for a less suitable use, if that is all you have. They just won’t be perfect.

If you don’t know what specific variety you have, one of these quick tests will tell you whether they are high-starch or low-starch.

1. Cut the potato in half and rub the two cut pieces briskly against each other. If the potato has a lot of starch, you produce plenty of frothy, starchy juice as you rub.

2. Prepare a brine of 1 part salt to 11 parts water and drop a piece of potato in it. High starch potatoes are denser and sink in the brine. Low-starch potatoes float.

Appearance

U.S. and Canadian commercial growers cultivate about 33 varieties of potatoes, not including a couple of dozen specialty potatoes-8 to 10 of these dominate the market. This number changes as agronomists introduce newer, more promising varieties and abandon less desirable ones. The names, however, don’t mean very much to either cooks or consumers because they are not much in use in the retail produce departments. You are likely to find four types on display:

1. The russet, that is also called Idaho potato, no matter where it is grown. Two-thirds of all U.S. potatoes are russets. These are the ideal baking and deep-frying potatoes.

Russets are light brown or russet brown in color with a slightly rough, thick skin, a long oval shape and shallow eyes. The flesh is creamy white. Even though these are high-starch frying or baking potatoes, they boil well, too, and do well in salads if you

are careful not to overcook them, or all that high starch makes them fall apart.

2. Red potatoes became trendy in the 1980s. They have red-colored smooth skins and are round or oval in shape with quite a few deep eyes. They are waxy and have a firm

texture. Their low starch content makes them perfect for boiling or sautéing, or in soups, stews or salads. Because of their thin skin and attractive color, your best approach is to use them unpeeled, if peels are acceptable in your preparation.

3. Round white potatoes have an ivory or creamy-buff rather than white skin, as the name implies, a thin peel and low starch. These are also waxy and ideal for boiling, but acceptable fried or baked as well.

4. Long white, California long white and white rose are different names for the same variety. California and Arizona grow them commercially. This variety has smooth fawn-colored skin, shallow eyes that are barely visible, a firm texture, low starch

content and creamy-white flesh similar to the round whites.

Russets, white and red potatoes are often available year-round in most part of the country if there is local demand for them. Each of these three common types have a number of varieties but you never know what you get since they don’t label varieties.   Occasionally you may see the name of a particularly common type, like round white katahdin or red Pontiac or russet Burbank.

What about new potatoes? This name doesn’t refer to a specific variety, but is applied to any potato that growers pick young (when the plant is still green) and the tubers are immature.

Farmers only harvest mature potatoes when the plant dries and turns yellow. New potatoes have a wonderful flavor, thin skin and are relatively perishable, therefore higher priced. New potatoes tend to be small and available only fresh-they don’t go in lengthy storage. Distributors specially select and package creamers or baby potatoes for uniformly small size and are pricey. High-end restaurants, clubs and other institutions tend to buy these.

Storage

Freshly harvested potatoes are more perishable than retail producers like. So growers put most potatoes through a curing process which gives them a chance to develop thicker skins and to heal bruises and cuts they receive during harvest and transportation.

They do this by storing them for two weeks at 50° to 60°F (10° to 15°C) at high humidity. Then they slowly lower the temperature to between 45° and 50°F (7° to 10°C), the ideal long-term storage temperature.

Potatoes keep for as long as 9 months at this temperature if the storage space is dark, has good ventilation and high humidity. Potatoes stored all winter are still in reasonably good condition in the spring when the new crop is not yet on the market.