Golden potatoes are potatoes that are golden or gold in color. You might wonder why make a category for gold potatoes when all potatoes you see are yellow or gold in color, and here’s the answer. Believe it or not, there are potatoes that are not yellow or gold in color. These potatoes may not be commonly sold in groceries and supermarkets, but they are out there.
The Red Bliss potato has red skin and pale yellow inside. The Purple Peruvian potatoes have dark brown skin and inside, you’ll see a mix of yellow and violet when you cut the potato in half. Adirondack Blue has brown skin and it is violet inside. Adirondack Red has brownish skin and is pale red inside. Purple Viking has mottled skin of brown and black patches, like a rotting fruit (inside, the color is light yellow).
The rest are yellow or gold in color, thus the term “golden potatoes”. The yellow color of certain golden potatoes is the reason why their names have “gold” in them – Delta Gold, Inca Gold, Saginaw Gold, and Yukon Gold, for example.
Golden Potato Trivia
- Charles Frederick Clark and Frederick James Stevenson, in the 1935 book The Katahdin, Chippewa, and Golden Potatoes, wrote: “The Golden potato is the result of an objective to produce a yellow-fleshed variety adapted to American conditions, which possesses such desirable characteristics as high – yielding ability, good tuber shape, and high – cooking quality.”
- Bethany Ugarte, in the 2020 book Digest This: The 21-Day Gut Reset Plan to Conquer Your IBS, shared a recipe called Anti-Inflammatory Crispy Fries ‘N’ Dip wherein she recommended the use of golden potato. She wrote: “Always opt for new white or golden potatoes since they’re easier to digest.”
- Robin Robertson, in the book Vegan Planet, Revised Edition: 425 Irresistible Recipes With Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World, made a list of vegan dishes, including Pesto-Tossed Golden Potato Gnocchi.
- The book Insight Guides: New Zealand describes “a typically weekend family get-together meal” which consists of “roast beef, chicken or lamb, served with crisp golden potatoes…”
- The Potato Salad with Mustard and Horseradish recipe in the book College Cooks: Simple Ingredients Easy Recipes, Good Tasting Food recommends using 1 pound of medium red or golden potatoes, whole with the skin on.
- The 1857 issue of The Gardeners’ Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette includes an assessment of the Golden Potato of Peru. “There is no reason to suppose that the Golden Potato of Peru, kept apart from the debilitating influences of European civilization, is less healthy than it was in the days of Pizarro.”
Golden Potato Buying Guide
When buying golden potatoes, check for firmness. If the potato is too soft, that is not a good sign. Check the potato’s skin also. Some of the red flags are wrinkled or damaged skin, cracks, and bruises. If there are any signs of damage or decay, it is not advisable to buy them. Why? Because it is difficult to know for sure how badly damaged the potato is on the inside without cutting it.
Feel free to smell the potatoes too. Avoid potatoes that smell musty or moldy. Potatoes with a bad or unnatural smell are not ideal for cooking and eating.
Potatoes are sold in the market in two ways – they are sold either in a bag or you can pick potatoes individually from a heap, crate, or container. Information about potato type, origin, weight, and other useful information are sometimes found in potatoes sold in bags. These potatoes are often clean, in good quality, and free of dirt. But the advantage of being able to pick your potatoes is that you can inspect each potato individually, minimizing the risk of ending with potatoes you’d rather not buy because of physical qualities (e.g. damage on the skin, discoloration, holes, etc.)
Being able to individually pick the potatoes you are buying also allows you to have potatoes of similar sizes. This is important especially if the dish you are making requires potatoes cut in similar sizes. This is important for presentation especially if you are catering or if you are cooking in a restaurant.
If you are buying potatoes, consider the types of potatoes and which one is best suited for what you want to do. The most common type you will see in the market is called the general-purpose potato, and many golden potatoes fall in this category. These are either round or long potatoes sold year-round. General-purpose potatoes are ideal for boiling, frying, and baking. They are also great when used as an ingredient in making casseroles and soups. Potatoes called “new potatoes” are freshly-dug potatoes that are not quite fully matured available in the market from January through September. New potatoes are best for boiling. The last type of potato is called the baking potato. As the name suggests, this kind of potato is ideal for baking. The most common potato cultivar grown as baking potato is the Russet Burbank, a potato with dark brown skin and white flesh.
Many different types of golden potatoes are available in the market all year long, so there is no need to stock up on potatoes. Buy just enough that will last until the next grocery or market day to avoid having unused potatoes at home that went bad, and ending up in the trash bin.
Golden Potato Production & Farming in Texas
According to an online article provided by Texas A&M Agrilife Research and Extension Center at Lubbock, potatoes are commonly grown in many parts of Texas. “Potatoes are grown in all Texas regions with major commercial vegetable production. Large commercial acreage is grown in four areas: The High Plains – Panhandle, extending from Seminole northward to Dalhart; the Rolling Plains – Munday; the Upper Coast – Winter Garden; and the Rio Grande Valley.” Farmers in Texas grow different kinds of potatoes, including golden potatoes.
Pesticides, Additives, and Chemicals
An online news article describes potatoes as among those with the highest pesticide content.
Pesticide Action Network (PAN), an international coalition that opposes pesticide use, provided consumers with a list of pesticides typically found in potatoes. Chlorpropham is the most commonly found pesticide in potatoes.
- Aldicarb sulfone
- Aldicarb sulfoxide
- Azoxystrobin
- Bifenthrin
- Boscalid
- Buprofezin
- Carbaryl
- Chlordane cis
- Chlorpropham
- Clothianidin
- DDE p,p’
- DDT p,p’
- Dieldrin
- Endosulfan II
- Endosulfan sulfate
- Fluridone
- Flutolanil
- Heptachlor epoxide
- Imidacloprid
- Metalaxyl/Mefenoxam
- Methamidophos
- Metolachlor
- Metribuzin
- Oxamyl
- Oxamyl oxime
- Pentachloroaniline (PCA)
- Pentachlorobenzene (PCB)
- Pentachlorophenyl methyl sulfide
- Phorate sulfone
- Phorate sulfoxide
- Quintozene (PCNB)
- Tetrahydrophthalimide (THPI)
- Thiabendazole
- Thiamethoxam
- Trifluralin
Geography
Science Agriculture (scienceagri.com), an online media focused on agriculture made a list of top-producing countries when it comes to potatoes, including golden potatoes. The top 10 producers are China, India, Russia, Ukraine, the US, Germany, Bangladesh, France, Netherlands, and Poland.
Packaging
Before the era of paper bags and plastic bags, you’d end up with a burlap sack full of potatoes if you are buying potatoes in bulk (otherwise, you just put the few pieces in your own bag or basket).
You’d encounter modern-day burlap sacks if you bought potatoes from stores that promote environmental awareness and encourage people to use reusable materials like bags. Establishments that support anti-plastic initiatives would use paper or another environment-friendly packaging for potatoes.
Today, it is common to see golden potatoes sold in plastic (including perforated plastic bags) or mesh bags (including tubular mesh sacks).
The packaging of potatoes when it is transported from farm to storage may include cardboard, crate, basket, or wood box packaging.
Some packaging options like thermoplastic also prove useful, however, because of the cost (thermoplastic, for example, is expensive), using these packaging options is not ideal considering the generally cheap price of potatoes.
Enjoying Golden Potatoes
We have the Inca Indians cultivating potatoes between 8,000 BC to 5,000 BC to thank because they were the ones who taught us to grow and eat potatoes.
People all around the world consume many different kinds of golden potatoes. It is eaten by itself, alongside other foods, or as an ingredient of a dish. It is eaten as part of the food consumed during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Golden potatoes are consumed as a snack. It can also be used to make alcohol/alcoholic beverages.
While potatoes, in general, are common fare, people on low-carb or low-glycemic diets avoid eating potatoes including golden potatoes because they can cause high blood and insulin levels.
Cook golden potatoes. Do not eat them raw because they have lectins that can cause digestive and gastrointestinal problems.
Storage
Don’t be fooled by golden potatoes’ oftentimes rugged appearance to suggest that they are tough, because like any other vegetable or fruit, golden potatoes need care during handling and storage or else, they will be damaged. Potatoes properly stored can last for weeks, even months. Do not wash golden potatoes if you are going to store them, because the dampness will trigger or hasten rotting or decay. Store golden potatoes in a cool, dark place with good ventilation. Storing golden potatoes in a room with a high temperature will cause potato sprouting and shriveling. It also helps if the room is as dark as possible.
Cooking
There are many ways to cook golden potatoes, which are great with different kinds of vegetables, meats, poultry, herbs and spices, and cheese.
You can use potatoes to make popular potato-based foods, starting with the typical foods we eat every day like potato chips, French fries, mashed potatoes, hash browns, baked potato wedges (or its luxury version, Hasselback Potatoes), tater tots, potato salad, or potato pies, to foods that we make using potato as a substitute to the main ingredient, like potato pancakes, potato waffles, and potato pizza.
You can use potatoes to make Spanish-style omelet, Italian dishes like potato gnocchi, French dishes like Potatoes Au Gratin, and Eastern European dishes like blitva. Potatoes are very flexible – stuff them, roast them, bake them, roast them, fry them, or put them in soups, casserole, stews, and curries.
Nutritional Benefits
Golden potatoes contain fiber, which is good for heart health and useful when trying to lose weight and keep blood pressure low. Golden potatoes also contain antioxidants, which help the body fight disease. Eating golden potatoes is also good for digestive health. Potatoes contain calcium, folate, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6, and vitamin C.
