In the section, we cover everything that is involved in Potato Varieties.
Native Potatoes
The potato was domesticated some 8000 years ago in the Andes mountains in South America.
There is still an incredible diversity of native potatoes available in the Andes, over 5000 varieties! This is of interest both for breeding new varieties elsewhere in the world and of course also from a culinary point of view.
New Potato Varieties
We all know there are different potato varieties. Depending on where you live, you may know Bintje (Continental Europe), Russet Burbank (US, Canada), Maris Piper (UK) or Kufri Jyoti (India).
How many potato varieties there are in total? Probably far more than you think!
Given the fact that there are over 4200 native potato varieties described and multiple databases and books identify well over 5000 cultivated potato varieties, PotatoPro estimates the total number of potato varieties well over 10.000.
Potato breeders furthermore create a continuous stream of new potato varieties. Although recently potatoes developed by genetic modification have become available in some markets, almost all of these varieties have been developed using conventional breeding technology.
GM Potatoes
