The Yukon Gold potato might have come from humble roots, but the Canadian-bred variety has achieved global status among chefs and food writers.
It seems Gary Johnston, the plant scientist who bred the yellow-fleshed variety 50 years ago, was ahead of his time.
He’s hailed as an “agricultural hero,” best known for the cross-breeding of a bright yellow wild potato from Peru with a domestic variety. That produced the Yukon Gold, which is praised for its versatility and flavor.
Altogether, Johnston developed and brought 16 potato varieties to market. At one time, the top four varieties of potato were Johnston’s, says the University of Guelph, where he was based with Agriculture Canada for close to 30 years.
Johnston named his iconic potato after the Yukon River, with its link to the Klondike Gold Rush. Yukon Gold was the first Canadian-bred potato variety to be promoted, packaged and marketed under its own name. But because the potato’s release to market came a few years before breeders’ rights legislation was implemented, Johnston never received any royalties.
Vanessa Currie considers herself lucky to have worked with Johnston for a few years in the early 1990s, when he was called out of retirement to fill in while the university sought a new potato breeder.
The research technician thinks Johnston’s Yukon Gold achievement was the culmination of several factors. For one thing, he bred the variety with European immigrants in mind.
“That was sort of unheard of in those days,” says Currie. “The idea was that if they came here, then they would have to eat what we grew here, and he opened the door for plant breeders to develop things to cater to new Canadians and broaden the palate of the Canadian plate. Try something new. Yeah, it’s yellow. Now, a generation has grown up eating the yellow-fleshed potato being something normal and yummy and great.”
Many Canadian war veterans brought home a taste for new foods sampled while fighting abroad.
“It was also the start of the idea that the potato wasn’t just sustenance, that it could be a delicacy,” says Currie. “Just the name ‘Yukon Gold’ made it sound like it was something interesting and exclusive,” says Currie.
Alex York von Sivers, whose father Hans von Sivers was Johnston’s lab technician for two decades, has taken on the task of spreading the word about the Yukon Gold’s big anniversary. Over the last three years he’s gathered material about the potato and sought out congratulatory letters for the half-century milestone from the likes of Prince Charles, TV cook Rachael Ray, Canadian songbird Anne Murray and astronaut Chris Hadfield.
“My objective is to pay tribute to a brilliant potato scientist, celebrate the 50th anniversary of his extraordinary creation, and then what can I do to make this a lasting legacy ... because what Gary did was a wonderful example of patient, persistent research [and] patient, persistent out-of-the-box thinking,” the Toronto-based York says. “The New York Times, I think, played the most important role in popularizing this potato—writing about it and publishing recipes. Once you’re written about in The New York Times, you have an extra layer of cachet.”
At the recent state dinner in Washington attended by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, White House chef Cristeta Pasia Comerford dished up Yukon Gold potato dauphinoise drizzled with Yukon Jack Canadian whisky.
Former White House chef John Moeller, who cooked for the families of three presidential administrations from 1992 to 2005, loves the Yukon Gold’s versatility.
“The biggest part of my job being one of the chefs at the White House is creating new menus and so you’re constantly looking for ingredients to work with. That’s why I kind of embraced (the Yukon Gold) a little bit more and thought I’d try a lot of different things with it,” he says from Lancaster, Pa., where he now runs State of Affairs Catering.
Moeller likes using Yukon Gold in gratin-type dishes and purees. “I like the color, the esthetic color to it. I like the creaminess to it.”
Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck served 1,500 Yukon Gold potatoes at this year’s Oscars Governors Ball. Baked in gold foil, they were topped with caviar and creme fraiche.
British stars like Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver often call for Yukon Golds in recipes.
“It is a great potato for the kitchen,” says Currie. “There are a lot of new yellow-fleshed varieties out there, but I have yet to find one that tastes as good as Yukon Gold. It does have a really good flavor and texture that is, I would say, superior to a lot of other yellow-fleshed varieties.”
Johnston died in Guelph, Ontario, in 2000.
Source: Toronto Sun