'Yukon Gem' is the new and improved 'Yukon Gold'

U.S. biologists say they've improved on the Yukon Gold potato, which has already been making a name for itself — and the northern Canadian territory it's named after — in kitchens around the world.

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been working on a new type of spud, the "Yukon Gem,"by crossing the Yukon Gold with a strong potato variety from Scotland.

"One of its parents is actually Yukon Gold, and the other parent is actually a Scottish variety called Brodick,"plant geneticist Richard Novy of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service in Aberdeen, Idaho, told CBC News in an interview that aired Tuesday.

The resulting variety, Yukon Gem, has the same smooth yellow skin, pale yellow flesh and pink eyes as the Yukon Gold potato. But Novy said it has also inherited the hardiness of the Brodick.

"What we found is in most areas we have trialed it, it tends to have higher yields than Yukon Gold does,"he said. "There is actually some moderate resistance to late blight. So a lot of these attributes make it a better potato variety than Yukon Gold, especially if you are a home gardener or an organic producer."

More on Yukon Gem