Vitelotte, a purple potato

The writer Alexandre Dumas had a favorite Potato: vitelotte. For him, this variety of Solanum tuberosum with its purple flesh and skin was the best potato in the world. Since then, many more productive and equally colorful hybrids have stolen its thunder, but it remains a sure bet, appreciated by gourmets and gardeners alike.

The vitelotte potato (Solanum tubersosum) is a perennial plant that is grown in the vegetable garden as an annual. It grows upright, up to a metre high and 50 cm wide.

Stems are tinted purple. They support dark-green leaves, sometimes with colored veins. Pennate, they are composed of smaller leaflets than in modern varieties.

The five-petal flowers are star-shaped. They too are purple, with a yellow heart. They are grouped in bunches at the ends of the stems. They can give rise to round berries.

Cylindrical to elongated tubers weigh an average of 50 g and measure less than 10 cm when ripe. Irregular and bumpy, they are covered by a thick, purplish-black skin and numerous deep buds. The dark purple flesh is sometimes marbled with lighter areas.

Despite its unusual color, the yolk potato is not toxic. The tubers are edible, and can be eaten fried, crisped or mashed. The aerial parts, on the other hand, contain a high concentration of solanine, a toxic substance. They should not be eaten.