A Scottish self-described ‘potato enthusiast’ is promoting a little-known Hungarian spud as a solution for organic growers worried about the toxicity of copper. As they do not use ordinary pesticides, organic growers spray with a solution of copper oxychloride to ward off deadly blight.
However, there is a groundswell of growers uncomfortable with the use of the sprays. Fife’s Alan Romans sees it as problematic. “It’s a heavy metal, after all,” Romans said. “There simply hasn’t been enough research into its toxicity. The problem is that modern blight has evolved so quickly that there is barely any potato that can fight it off. But as an organic grower, I felt there should be some alternative out there.”
The Hungarian Sarpo, however, has demonstrated very high levels of blight resistance. Commercially, its prospects are poor. It is a floury, red potato with high dry matter. “But the taste is very good. Excellent, in fact,” Romans contended. “And, the flouriness can be varied depending on how late you harvest it.”
He pointed to celebrity chef Sarah Raven, who harvested hers early, and used the Sarpo as a salad potato. Romans has been instrumental in the drive to bring lesser-known potato varieties to British tables. He does a lot of work with supermarket chain Booths, and was part of the team that launched Rooster in Britain.
He is a passionate advocate of minority potatoes, contending that modern supermarket practices have dictated a one-size-fits all approach to potatoes, whereas in fact the tuber has enormous diversity of appearance and flavour, that could be harnessed by canny marketing.
“It will take a culture change, I’m afraid,” he complained. “We’ve been banging on about this for years, and now, finally, the message is about to seep through.”
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