Potato 'Vitelotte' | |
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![]() 'Vitelotte' potatoes | |
Genus | Solanum |
Species | Solanum tuberosum |
Cultivar | 'Vitelotte' |
Origin | France |
'Vitelotte', also called Vitelotte noire, Négresse [1]: 150 or Truffe de Chine, [2] is a gourmet French variety of blue-violet potato. [3] It has been cultivated in France at least since the early nineteenth century.
'Vitelotte' potatoes have a dark blue, almost black, skin and dark violet-blue flesh; they have a characteristic nutty flavour and smell of chestnuts. The colour is retained in cooking, and is due to natural pigments in the anthocyanin group of flavonoids. [4] The plants mature late and, compared to modern varieties, are relatively low-yielding. The tubers are elongated with sunken eyes; [2] they are thick-skinned, and thus keep well.
The French word vitelotte derives from the archaic French: vit, meaning " penis" (modern French bite), by analogy with the shape of the tuber. The first occurrence of the word is from 1812. [5]
In early descriptions, vitelotte were not necessarily violet-coloured. In a source from 1817, six varieties of potato are listed as available at the market of Les Halles; among them are both vitelotte and violette ("violet"). [6]: 508 A treatise on agriculture published in 1863 lists five possible colours for the vitelotte: white, yellow, pink, red and violet. [7] In 1873 Alexandre Dumas wrote in his Grand dictionnaire de cuisine: [8]: 847
"... the best of all are unquestionably the violet [ones], preferable even to the red [ones], [and] known in Paris by the name of Vitelottes'".
"… les meilleures de toutes sont sans contredit, les violettes, préférables mêmes aux rouges, connues à Paris sous le nom de Vitelottes"
Potato 'Vitelotte' | |
---|---|
![]() 'Vitelotte' potatoes | |
Genus | Solanum |
Species | Solanum tuberosum |
Cultivar | 'Vitelotte' |
Origin | France |
'Vitelotte', also called Vitelotte noire, Négresse [1]: 150 or Truffe de Chine, [2] is a gourmet French variety of blue-violet potato. [3] It has been cultivated in France at least since the early nineteenth century.
'Vitelotte' potatoes have a dark blue, almost black, skin and dark violet-blue flesh; they have a characteristic nutty flavour and smell of chestnuts. The colour is retained in cooking, and is due to natural pigments in the anthocyanin group of flavonoids. [4] The plants mature late and, compared to modern varieties, are relatively low-yielding. The tubers are elongated with sunken eyes; [2] they are thick-skinned, and thus keep well.
The French word vitelotte derives from the archaic French: vit, meaning " penis" (modern French bite), by analogy with the shape of the tuber. The first occurrence of the word is from 1812. [5]
In early descriptions, vitelotte were not necessarily violet-coloured. In a source from 1817, six varieties of potato are listed as available at the market of Les Halles; among them are both vitelotte and violette ("violet"). [6]: 508 A treatise on agriculture published in 1863 lists five possible colours for the vitelotte: white, yellow, pink, red and violet. [7] In 1873 Alexandre Dumas wrote in his Grand dictionnaire de cuisine: [8]: 847
"... the best of all are unquestionably the violet [ones], preferable even to the red [ones], [and] known in Paris by the name of Vitelottes'".
"… les meilleures de toutes sont sans contredit, les violettes, préférables mêmes aux rouges, connues à Paris sous le nom de Vitelottes"