Spuds! Spuds! and More Spuds!

Spuds. We love em in this house.

I grew 4 plants each of 4 types of spuds.  They were all planted on 22 June and each variety competed to be the first harvested, with the biggest yield.  Here’s the results, in order of productivity:

Deseree -3.8kg. (Harvested 14 October.)  The first to the finish line.  This was an early crop with an excellent yield.  Deseree have pinky-red skin with firm flesh which holds its shape when cooked.  They are versatile – you can boil, roast, or mash these babies.

Pinkeyes – 3.5kg. (Harvested 18 October.) These little beauties have been the envy of every ex-Tasmanian in the area.  They are versatile too, but we love em just boiled and dobbed (generously) with butter (real butter, that is) and flakey salt.  We usually cook extra so we can have leftovers cold in salads the next day.  We also love these fried with rosemary, or just anyhow you want to cook them. These babies are so beautiful.  They are a much anticipated arrival every year in this house, and it’s a treat to sneak into the garden and dig a few early ones to have as a special treat.

Kipflers – 3.25kg. (Harvested 23 October.)  These small, long, finger-shaped spuds were a surprise and delight when I grew them for the first time last year as an experiment.  And definitely worth growing again and again.  They are a gorgeous buttery spud, great for boiling or baking. They hold their shape when cooked and leftovers (if you have any) are great in lunches the next day.  These would be close to our favourite spuds in flavour.  

Bintjes – 2.60kg. (Harvested 1 November.)  By now we are almost buried alive in spuds but we have yet another 2.6 kilos of my favourite carbohydrate. Big, oval shaped spuds with yellowy flesh provide an excellent yield for the latest maturing crop. 

Since mid October we have been scoffing spuds – Pinkeyes, Bintjes, Kipflers and Deseree.  We have spuds stuffed into every storage orifice in the house. Problem is, we have another harvest coming, with another 4 plants each of the same 4 varieties above, due for harvest very soon!  What the hell are we going to do with all these spuds?  

We will be knee-deep in spuds for a while yet.  And.....[pause for effect] loving it!