In this month’s Smorgasbord, we take a look at Purple Pelisse, an excellent-tasting mid-season fingerling variety that has dark purple skin and flesh and is high in antioxidants. Purple Pelisse tubers are ideal for boiling or baking whole. Purple Pelisse chips retain their bright purple color and resist fading. Chips made from Purple Pelisse in an Oregon taste test surpassed All Blue chips in color, appearance, and flavor and had no brown discoloration, a defect common to other purple varieties.
To find growers of Purple Pelisse seed, visit www.pvmi.org.
Morphological & Agronomic Characteristics
Plants set a large number of small (average 3.2 ounces) tubers.- Small, fingerling-shaped tubers with purple skin and dark purple flesh
- Smooth, shallow-eyed tubers with few tuber defects
- Tuber specific gravity is lower than All Blue and Yukon Gold
- Shatter bruise-resistant during harvest
- Hollow heart only infrequently observed
- Tubers resistant to growth cracks and second growth
- Resistant to metribuzin
- Medium to high fertilizer requirements
Culinary Qualities
- Similar to All Blue in all categories in culinary tests
- High antioxidant content
- High anthocyanin content
Disease Ratings
- Powdery scab: resistant
- Common scab: moderately resistant
- PVY: moderately resistant
- Net necrosis: moderately resistant
- Early dying: susceptible
- Potato leaf roll virus: susceptible
- Late blight, foliar and tuber: susceptible
Storage
- Medium dormancy length
- Vascular necrosis absent during the first several months of storage, but can appear at low levels after extended storage