Eating blue potatoes regularly lowers blood pressure and helps lose excess weight. Responsible for this effect are secondary plant substances Anthocyanins contained in the blue potato, which give the root vegetable a bluish color. The blue potato is best known among connoisseurs as the French truffle potato or “Vitelotte”.
What are anthocyanins
Anthocyanins are water-soluble dyes. They are available in blue, red and black. Anthocyanins are very valuable for plants because they protect against harmful substances, the so-called free radicals. For example, these aggressive substances damage the hereditary material. Anthocyanins make them harmless. The tasty Vitelotte potato is a rare blue-violet potato variety from which our domestic potato also descends. The natives of Peru and Bolivia were already convinced of the medicinal power of the blue potato.
Anthocyanins: ten times more powerful than vitamin C
Free radicals also damage the human body. But here too, anthocyanins can help and, for example, protect against cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure. And there are also studies that show that anthocyanins are also effective during pre-stages of colon cancer. It is therefore definitely a good service to the body to consume foods with anthocyanins such as the blue potato. And the bluer the potato, the more anthocyanins it contains and the healthier it is. Anthocyanins are about ten times as powerful as vitamin C.
How expensive are blue potatoes?
Blue potatoes are not cheap. They are usually harvested by hand and are not very profitable, which explains their high price. Due to their hard skin, blue potatoes store better than conventional potatoes. They should be stored cool and not in plastic bags.
The preparation of blue potatoes
Blue potatoes can be cooked like normal potatoes, but they taste less sweet, rather slightly nutty. If you cut them open raw, they have a purple-white marble structure. When they are cooked, they are completely purple. When preparing dishes with blue potatoes, one should keep in mind the effect of the color on the appetite of the guests. Experience shows that the potato in pieces, slices and grated is well received, but is completely rejected by children, for example in soup. Anyone who wants to prepare a spooky Halloween dish can use this effect.
The Vitelotte potato
The Vitelotte potato originates from Peru and Bolivia (also the cradle of our conventional European potato) and is still grown there to this day. Farmers in Western Europe also later succeeded in growing the potato. The Vitelotte variety forms long oval tubers, which are dark violet-blue to almost black on the outside, thanks to a high content of the natural coloring agent anthocyanin. At about four inches long, they are relatively medium to small. They ripen late and have a dark blue thick skin reminiscent of beetroot, and are therefore quite easy to store. The violet-blue flour tissue of the potato tastes similar to that of chestnuts. They are less sweet than our regular potato varieties.
Old potato varieties are increasingly disappearing
Industrial processing and increasing sales of potatoes outside the own region require mass production and uniformity. That is why many older potato varieties have been forgotten, because their shape is not suitable for industrial processing. But these rarities do have a wide variety of taste, color and shape.
