The presentation of new potato varieties of domestic selection “Have your own: table potatoes, varieties for processing - autumn harvest” took place on October 3 at VDNKh.
The event was organized by the Directorate of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for Agricultural Development, the Federal Potato Research Center named after A. G. Lorch and the Potato Union. More than 50 varieties were presented at the site, including those created within the framework of the FNTP.
Guests of the event were, in particular, representatives of the Magnit and X5 Group retail chains. They got acquainted with new developments in potato breeding in order to select them for sale in retail chains. And this is the first step towards ensuring that domestic potatoes predominate in Russian stores.
The presented varieties were also assessed by Sergey Marchenko, development director of V Fry LLC, a leading company producing French fries in Russia.
During the event, a master class on preparing potato dishes was organized. It was conducted by chefs - members of the International Alliance of Professional Culinary Professionals (IAPK).
In addition, the chefs (as well as other guests of the event) took part in a tasting of Russian potato varieties. Boiled potatoes were evaluated according to criteria such as pulp consistency, mealiness, moisture, boilability, smell, darkening of the pulp during cooking and, of course, taste. Representatives of the culinary industry noted the good taste and aroma of domestic potatoes and a pleasant aftertaste. And they emphasized that Russian potatoes are not inferior to foreign ones, and in some ways even surpass them.
According to the results of the tasting, the Julia variety (Agrostar LLC) took 1st place, and the Kalinka variety (Doka - Gene Technologies LLC) took 2nd place. Good results were shown by varieties still undergoing state tests - Mikhailovsky and Phoenix (JSC Ozery): they were in 3rd and 4th places, respectively. Soon they will be included in the state register of selection achievements. 5th place was taken by a colored variety with dietary properties - Northern Lights.