Kerr's Pink is a
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
in wide production in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and many other countries. Although often quoted as an "Irish potato" (where it was introduced in 1917), the cultivar was actually created by J. Henry of
Cornhill,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, in 1907.
In 2002, it accounted for 25% of potato production in Ireland, making it the nation's second largest variety.
'Kerr's Pink' potatoes have a distinctive pink colour with deep eyes. They are quite floury and starchy. They are very good for mashing and boiling but can also be chipped.
'Kerr's Pink's grow with many tubers and can catch
potato blight
''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "po ...
very easily. They have a slightly low resistance to common scab and tend to have a low resistance to potato cyst nematode (pallida) and potato cyst nematode (rostochiensis). The variety has an average resistance to powdery scab and blackleg. It has a very high resistance to slugs and a relatively high resistance to splitting.
References
External links
Kerr's Pink Potato HistoryKerr's Pink Potato CharacteristicsBritish Potato Council Kerr's Pink
Potato cultivars
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