Austrian retailer SPAR offers 'Quality Tirol' Potatoes

For over 200 years, potatoes have been successfully cultivated in the highlands of the Alpes in Tirol, in the western part of Austria. Due to the sandy soil and an ideal climate in Tirol, the potatoes have a very strong flavour.

In the fields of vegetable grower Romed Wopfner in Thaur the potato harvest has started: from now on the great tasting „Tiroler Speckigen“ and the „Tiroler Mehligen“ with Quality seal „Qualität Tirol“ are available in all branches of the retailer SPAR throughout Austria.

Harvest has started

The harvest of the „Tiroler Speckigen“ and the „Tiroler Mehligen" started this year already in August in the fields surrounding the "Plattnerhof" in Thaur. On this farm, the family Wopfner grows potatoes for many generations and can therefor fall back on a lot of experience and know-how. Farmer Romed Wopfner is counting on a yield of around 35 tonnes of potato per hectare. They are harvesting every day, so the potatoes are always fresh. They are packed in 2 kilogram plastic bags that can be easily recognized by their „Qualität Tirol“ quality seal.

Dr. Christof Rissbacher, managing director for SPAR Tirol and Salzburg:
 

"The cooperation between SPAR and the vegetable growers in the Thaur region goes back decades and is very important to us."

"The potatoes from Tirol taste very good with a nutty note and are also a valuable contribution to sustainability"

Similar to the Andes

The potato cultivation in Tirol goes back to the 1800's.

Romed Wopfner:
 

"Here in Thaur at an altitude of over 600 meter we have very favorable conditions. The yellow skin potato varieties with medium tuber size that we grow here, do very well on the sandy soil."

"The Alpine climate in Tirol is very similar to the native growing areas of the potato, the Andes. That works out very well for the taste and the overall quality."

The potatoes are grown and harvested following the strict quality criteria of the AMA quality seal. Frequent soil analysis and precise adherence to crop rotation keep the quality high.

The „Tiroler Speckigen“ and the „Tiroler Mehligen are just two of a total of about 3600 local and regional food products that the SPAR retailer obtains from over 115 growers in Tirol.

Pick the right potato for your recipe

Not all potatoes are the same. Potatoes differ for example in cooking type.

The „Tiroler Mehligen“ is a potato that is a slightly firm. They can be prepared in many different ways: they are great to cook with just a bit of salt, to fry up in a skillet or for use as part of many dishes. They are also suitable to prepare fries or chips.

Firm potatoes such as the „Tiroler Speckigen“ are especially suitable for the preparation of potato salad, for cooking potatoes in their skin or for use in gratins. Firm potatoes have the lowest amount of starch and will stay very firm throughout the cooking process.

Potatoes are Austria's favorite vegetable

According to market research, potatoes are the favorite vegetable of both men and women in Austria. They not only taste great as main course, side dish or salad, but also contain a range of valuable nutrients such as Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin-C and Vitamins-B.

Don't know how to prepare your potatoes? You can find a lot of potato recipes on www.spar.at.