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Vales Emerald Potatoes.

LovetogardenLovetogarden Posts: 756
in Fruit & veg

Hi everyone.

We set 10 tubers of Vales Emerald as well as Maris Bard just for a change. We normally try to grow a few of the newer varieties to see how they perform. My husband dug a root to see if they were ready, so far so good. Lovely looking potatoes, nice and clean. Then I cooked them as I normally cook potatoes, with some springs of mint, to have with a salad for tea and what a disappointmentimage. They were not nice at all. They broke up in the water, and tasted of absolutely nothing.

The Maris Bard we are growing are fine. Is the weather to blame?Have we left them too long before digging?

Your comments/advice would be appreciated, just pleased  we only planted 10 tubers.

Posts

  • kate1123kate1123 Posts: 2,815

    I planted 4 tubers in a patio potato bag, my harvest was 8 golf size potatoesimage but they were yummyimage

  • NetherfieldNetherfield Posts: 120

    Surprised they have no taste they are bred from Charlotte,one I've never tried.

     

    Sharpes Express, Charlotte,Casablanca,Juliette are all nice tasting waxy salad spuds.

    Try steaming instead of boiling,won't improve the taste I'm afraid

  • Zoomer44Zoomer44 Posts: 3,267

    Not tried Vales Emerald but have tried Charlotte, grew them for a couple of years and they cooked the same,skins came off and they tasted watery and bland. 

    Currently eating red duke of york, excellent mashed, the skins rub off, they cook well and taste wonderful.   

  • LovetogardenLovetogarden Posts: 756

    Thanks for your replies and advice.

    We have grown Charlotte in the past and they have been fine.

    We just like to grow a few of a variety we have no previously tried in case we find one we like for the next year, there are so many new ones,it mind boggling. I think I will try to get some seed to grow some for Christmas maybe Juliette or Casablanca. Think I will try some roasted with garlic and rosemary for tea tonight, might add a bit of flavour and keep their shape!.

    Thanks once again. Have a nice dayimage

     

    PS It's raining againimage

  • LovetogardenLovetogarden Posts: 756

     Just watched Monty Don on GW  and the results of his potato trials. He has had the same problem with both taste and the potato breaking up when cooking that I had, so I can almost certainly say it is too much water that has caused the problem with the Vales Emerald  The Maris Bard are fine, so we have some ' new potatoes' that taste and cook like they should. I think we will stick with them in the future!!.

     

  • WoodliWoodli Posts: 3

    I too watched Monty last night - nice to see his efforts get the same rewards as everyone elses! I'm growing Charlottes and these are breaking up when cooked. I grew Vales Emerald last year in a large bag and they were lovely - good taste and relatively good yield from only 5 tubers.

  • LovetogardenLovetogarden Posts: 756

    Hi, I think that the season we are having that is to blame and perhaps I might try them again, but when you only have limited amount of land you do want to be as sure as you can that you get a crop you can eat. I roasted them with Rosemary and garlic and they were OK but I really like new potatoes boiled or steamed with a knob of butter!!

    Thanks for your interest everyone. I'm sure that with this funny season other people will have had the same problems. Bye for now, off to enjoy the sunshineimage.

  • JoschoJoscho Posts: 1

    I have grown Vales Emerald for several seasons, including 2012, in my garden in north Cumbria, which gets high rainfall virtually every year. The reason I have stuck with them is precisely because they have NOT broken up on boiling, like a number of other varieties I have tried, and because, in our experience, they have had excellent flavour and a nice waxy texture, which we like. I have also grown Charlotte for a number of years for the same reasons, i.e. don't break up on boiling, excellent flavour and waxy texture. I also grow Valor for my maincrop because they too do not break down on cooking. I have had lots of disappointments with other recommended first earlies, salads and maincrops with respect to breakdown on cooking but, after a lot of trial and error, settled on the above 3 varieties. I heard the allotment guy (Terry?) on Jeremy Vine's mid-day Radio 2 programme say that the cooking breakdown was due to high rainfall during growth, but I am sceptical of this explanation because of the rainfall levels we get in Cumbria. I wondered if the reason I got poor results with other varieties might have been because I have a very sandy soil and/or because my garden is fairly shaded, which might reduce photosynthate levels and thus restrict starch accumulation in the tubers, which, in turn, might have an effect on cooking quality and texture. Whatever, the performances of the 3 varieties above, including VE, have been consistently good in my experience. Last year I couldn't get VE and grew Accord instead. The quality of the tubers was very good but yields seemed to be lower than for VE.

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