One of the many reasons that you should frequent your local farmers’ market is the unique varieties of produce that you can find. Blackberry potatoes are a great example. Blackberry potatoes are a relatively new variety, developed at Michigan State University, my alma mater. I’ve tried other varieties of purple potatoes, but I found them to be a bit bland and have a mealy texture. Contrarily, blackberry potatoes have great flavor and a nice, creamy texture. You are probably familiar with Yukon gold potatoes. Anything you do with Yukon golds, you can do with blackberry potatoes, but with spectacularly purple results. Really purple. You know how beets stain your cutting board red? Yeah, these potatoes stain your cutting board purple. And bold pigments mean nutrition. Purple produce generally provides antioxidants in the anthocyanin class. Eat the rainbow!
I first found blackberry potatoes last year in the early summer at the Plowgirl Farm stall at the Chapel Hill Farmers’ Market. I bought several pounds over a few weeks, but everything is seasonal at the farmers’ market, and the supply ran out. Then, in late summer, Open Door Farm had them at the Carrboro Farmers’ Market. I bought 8 pounds to stock up for a while. Now, early summer again, Sally at Plowgirl Farms has them again. She told me that her go to seed coop didn’t have them available this year, so she jumped through some hoops to procure seed stock. I’m so glad she did. I bought 12 pounds!
How to use them
Baked
Skip the foil. Prick the potatoes in several places with the tip of a sharp knife. Toss the whole potatoes in olive oil with salt and pepper. Make sure the oil covers the entire surface. Crank your oven to 500, 550 if it goes there. Baking at this high temperature crisps up the skin and makes it the best part of the dish. The time will vary depending on the size of the potatoes, but large blackberry potatoes (which are still smaller than a tennis ball) probably take 35-40 minutes. To serve, split them open in the traditional way, drizzle with a good olive oil, sprinkle chives and add some more salt and pepper. Note the rare marbled blackberry potato in this pic.
Grilled
Better than fries with a burger! Slice them in half and then toss them in olive oil with salt and pepper. I expose both sides to high heat to get that grilled color, and then move them to a cooler spot to cook through. You want them to be soft and creamy throughout, with no raw potato crunch. Warning, potatoes take longer on the grill than most things, and they retain their heat much better than other things. Get them started first, and give them some time to cool as other items on the grill finish up.
Mashed
Whatever your go to recipe is, especially if it uses lots of butter! Here I went Irish with bangers and mash along with braised cabbage. Crazy purple!
Potato Pizza
It takes a long time to fully preheat the oven and the pizza stone/steel. Roast some potatoes in the oven as the temperature comes up. Slice those potatoes really thin. Shape the dough into a pie, brush with garlic infused olive oil, add just a bit of flavorful cheese (like asiago or gruyere), spread the potato slices over the entire pie, add just a bit more of that flavorful cheese, and crank the black pepper grinder over the pie.
There are so many other options. Imagine a purple Spanish tortilla! Or, sticking with the Spanish tapas theme, patatas bravas. Visualize a purple potato salad at that potluck! Smashed potatoes are all the rage, and blackberry potatoes would work great. Eating Well has a few recipes that follow a technique that they call “melting potatoes.” Here’s one for an example. I’ll have to give this a try sometime soon.
The bottom line, be on the lookout for blackberry potatoes at your local market. If a farmer is offering other varieties of potatoes, ask them if they’ve heard about blackberry potatoes. That conversation may lead to getting some introduced into their next potato crop. You’ll be happy.
