The Paisley Purple potato, a new potato developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, made its commercial debut on the menu of local restaurant Alma.
Named after Prince’s famous Chanhassen studio, the Paisley Purple potato has grown popular in culinary and agricultural fields because of its vibrant color and unique flavor.
As its name suggests, the potato’s skin and flesh are both dark purple. Unlike a lot of other purple potatoes, its flesh retains its color even after cooking, said Laura Shannon, head of the University potato breeding program.
Its rich color is thanks to the anthocyanins in the plant, which are the compounds that give plants red, blue and purple colors, according to Potato Breeding Specialist Thomas Stefaniak. Most other tubers do not have a significant amount of anthocyanins, he added.
The Paisley Purple has a strong, earthy flavor that was described as nutty, according to Shannon. It tastes almost like an unsweetened sweet potato, which isn’t actually a potato at all.
“It’s outstanding,” Stefaniak said.
Because of its unique color and distinct flavor, the Paisley Purple potato has garnered a popular reputation amongst the state’s potato community.
Among fans of the potatoes are the chefs at local haute-cuisine restaurant Alma who have closely followed its development, Stefaniak said.
Alma is serving the potatoes roasted alongside swiss chard, a chili jus and braised beef as one of the courses on its $95 seasonal tasting menu. Vegetarians hoping to taste this up-and-coming tuber have to wait for it to be released elsewhere or ask their carnivorous friends for a taste because it is not included in Alma’s vegetarian tasting menu.
Unable to afford a meal at Alma, I was fortunate enough to be brought a sample of these tasty tubers by my roommate who works in their kitchen. Even reheated, they retained their bold flavor and dark purple color and paired nicely with a homemade aioli courtesy of my aforementioned roommate.
Although the potato community is dying to get their hands on this wonderful new potato, it likely will not be available in more affordable settings for a few more years. Releasing a new breed of potato is complicated and time-consuming because potatoes are clonally reproduced, according to Shannon.
Potato seeds are extracted from certified disease-free tissue cultures, not from the plants themselves like other crops. These tissue cultures are used to grow mini-tubers, which are bought by seed growers.
The seed growers then grow out the tubers and extract the eyes, or roots, of the potatoes. These eyes are then sold to farmers to plant and grow the potatoes that we eat.
Christian Thill invented the Paisley Purple in 2006, but passed away unexpectedly in 2014, Stefaniak said. Shannon inherited genetic samples of the breed when she took over the University’s potato breeding project in 2017.
Researchers had to collect evidence that the potato was genetically stable before they began trialing it, a process which took multiple years and growth cycles to complete, Stefaniak said.
“Our tissue culture person eradicated all the virus from those existing tubers, made plantlets from that,” Stefaniak said. “We had to put those in the field, harvest tiny amounts, grow that the next year, harvest a little bit more. It took us until about 2020 before we had enough to start trialing it again.”
In development since 2006, the Paisley Purple is finally nearing its public release, Stefaniak said. He said mini-tubers should become available sometime this coming spring.
