Yellow-Flesh Potato (Yukon Gold)
(Scientific Binomial Name: Solanum tuberosum)Selection Information
Usage: Baked, mashing, fried whipped or roasted. Especially good for potato pancakes.
Selection: Good-quality yellow-flesh potatoes will be firm, smooth-skinned and cream to light brown in color. They should have few eyes, and those few eyes should be shallow.
Avoid: Avoid product that is soft, wrinkled, has cuts in the skin or is green-tinted.
Seasonal Information
Available year-round.
Washington potatoes are available from August through January.
Yellow-Flesh Potato Nutritional Information
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Yukon Gold potatoes are Fat-free, Very low sodium, Source of fiber, High in vitamin C, Cholesterol-free.
Potato Tips & Trivia
- Yukon Gold potatoes are the first Canadian-bred potato to be marketed and promoted by name. It received a Canadian license in 1980 and was soon exported to the United States.
- Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator. Refrigeration converts the starch in potatoes to sugar which will cause the potato to darken when cooked.
- Prolonged exposure to light causes greening and makes the potato taste bitter. Peel or pare green area from the potato before using.
- The world's most important vegetable, the potato was first cultivated in the Andean region of South America by native Indian populations. Spanish explorers took the tuber back to Spain in the middle of the 16th Century, and from there it spread to the rest of Europe. The potato was promoted in Prussia by Fredrick the Great, frowned upon in Scotland (Presbyterians were concerned because the Bible failed to mention potatoes as a crop), and quickly adopted by the Irish as their primary food crop. How potatoes came to North America is the subject of several conflicting legends. One creditable source reports that some of the first plantings were those started in New Hampshire, from stock brought from Ireland.
- The present name came about as an accident, having derived from the Spanish "patata," meaning sweet potato.
