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Variety Corner: Spotlight on Caribe
Variety Corner: Spotlight on Caribe.’
The One Variety That For Over 25 Years We Have Said Deserves to Be in EVERY Garden.
We closely observed Caribe’ (pronounced (“Ka-REE-bay”) prior to its official naming and release in 1984 while it was being grown as an experimental numbered variety (“F55066”) by organic farmer friends across the line in Canada. Caribe’ – Spanish for “Caribbean” – was early on recognized as a truly extraordinary potato variety.
Designs on Cuba.
Caribe’ had been bred by our friend, Dr. Hielke De Jung, the Agriculture Canada potato breeder in neighboring Fredericton, New Brunswick (and author, along with Cornell potato breeder son, Walter, of the excellent The Complete Book of Potatoes). The intention back in the 1970s was to fill the niche for a purple-skinned, white-fleshed export variety for Cuba. Among other appealing qualities, local Cuban lore credits such purple potatoes with powers as an aphrodisiac. Sadly, the Caribe’s minor susceptibility to the fungal pathogen fusarium was a mismatch for the tropical climate of Cuba – as well as the tropical southern half of Florida – so Caribe’ never came to flourish there.
However, Caribe’s extraordinary qualities – including earliness, very high yield, great taste and stunning beauty – and excellent performance in northern Florida and the other forty-nine States has made it a top performer virtually everywhere away from the tropics.
Attractive & Exceptional.
Caribe’ is a striking potato in many ways. It is an attractive oblong potato with lustrous purple skin, fairly shallow eyes, and a delicious snow-white flesh. Caribe’ is unexcelled as a new potato fresh out of the garden. It’s incredible earliness and very rapid tuber bulking allow impressive harvests beginning in as few as 60-65 days after planting when seed potatoes have been fully green-sprouted. Caribe’ is a consistently high yielding variety. University of Rhode Island researchers considered the early, high yielding nature of Caribe’ to be so exceptional that URI came to recommend simply growing Caribe’ as an effective strategy for combating economic loss due to potato nemesis Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB).
Tubers of Caribe’ exhibit medium dormancy and should be considered a preferential choice for Fall planting where winters are mild and Fall planting is practiced. Yet with proper storage conditions (soil-like conditions: dark, moist and 38oF) Caribe’ actually stores very well and will keep all winter, though the purple color typically begins to fade after about three months storage. Cool and moist soil conditions during the growing season result in the best coloration for Caribe’; in hotter and drier conditions, the beautiful purple color will be more muted.
Performance in the Kitchen and Field.
In the kitchen, Caribe’ is a versatile, good tasting variety. It’s waxy, mid-dry texture makes it suitable for boiling, baking or frying. The dry heat of baking will preserve best the purple skin color; boiling or steaming will tend to wash out some color.
In the field, Caribe has proved itself to be a reliable easy to grow potato. Plants are medium-sized and spreading. Tops flop over as plants reach maturity. Caribe’ is widely adapted and has only moderate nitrogen requirements. It is highly resistant to hollow heart and is somewhat resistant to potato scab.
Year in, year out, Caribe sets a good number of tubers per hill and is reliably one of our highest yielding varieties. For over twenty years it has been one of our best selling varieties. Caribe has a fiercely loyal following and we witness a great number of farmers and gardeners who unfailingly order it year after year after year. We know from experience that they are onto something. Caribe’ deserves to be in your garden, too.
Jim & Megan