5 hours ago, Darienne said:Thursday and reporting back. I was quite disappointed that no Ontarians got back to me with a decent potato salad potato. However, Ed bought some red potatoes in FreshCo, unpackaged, red skins with white flesh, alas he didn't check to see the geographical source for said potatoes, and lo and behold! today we have delicious proper potato salad. Still, we are back in business.
The rest of the 'spurious' red potatoes will go into potato soup.
I think it's tough to identify a specific variety sometimes. I know here in BC, a lot of the potatoes I buy may be identified as grown in BC but lack any specific varietal information. The exception is the Warba nugget potato, which many people here are MAD about, there's a buying frenzy when they first come out in May. They are my favourite potato for several kinds of potato salads. They are a very early potato and I think they are grown in Ontario also? I'm not finding a specific answer to that online, maybe you can ask around or check online yourself if you think you might be interested in them.
We have a couple of farms right here in the Comox Valley that grow Warbas and the farm markets are very busy when they first show up, sometimes as early as early May or a couple of weeks later in a cooler Spring. In Ontario I would guess maybe in June? They are usually available for a couple of months but the earlier, the tastier!
They aren't storage potatoes, they need to be kept in the fridge and should be eaten fairly soon. I like to steam or steam-roast them in the CSO. I like my potatoes in potato salad to be firm so I don't overcook them. But everyone is different in terms of their preferences. What I love is different from someone who likes a softer potato.
If you do a search on eGullet for Warba, you will see a few posts where I have photos of the Warbas and some salads I made with them. Here's a standard potato salad, for example. (you'll have to scroll down) Here's another one with beets. One more, a warm salad with tomatoes and feta and green beans. Ha, now you don't have to search. 🙂
Sorry to go on about the Warbas, but they are one of our fave Spring foods! I hope you can find them in Ontario. If you do, please let me know, OK?
(Also, I hope you get vaccinated soon, I think you said you are eligible now!)
Edited to add: Somewhere it said Warba potatoes are similar to Jersey Royal potatoes or they serve a similar role to people in BC, @liuzhou, are you familiar with those? How would you describe them?
