Yukon Gold Potato
 

[url]http://fooddaycanada.ca/made-in-canada/yukon-gold-potato/[/url] Yukon Gold Potato
Yukon Gold Potato


(Solanum tuberosum)

Yukon Gold Potatoes

Yukon Gold is arguably one of the most successful potatoes in the world. It is a true culinary star. Hybridizers Garnet “Gary” Johnston and Jeff Rowberry dug the first hill of legendary spuds at Agriculture Canada’s Cambridge Research Station in 1980. It took many years of research. A short time before his death Johnston observed that “potato hybridizers are a patient lot”

Yukon Gold was the first Canadian-bred potato cultivar to be marketed with its name on the packaging when two Ontario growers began printing “Yukon Gold” on the side of the bags. It didn’t take long before chefs and consumers began to demand the potato by asking for it by name. Not much wonder, it’s not only delicious, it’s versatile. You can bake it, boil it, scallop it and even deep fry it and it answered the market’s demand for a disease-resistant, yellow-fleshed potato that could be easily grown in North America.

At the time Professor Johnson was working as the University of Guelph’s potato breeder and had a graduate student from Lima, Peru. It was tasting his Peruvian potatoes that spurred on Johnson’s breeding for a yellow potato that stayed yellow and cream coloured upon cooking. He bred in disease resistance and the rest is happy, culinary history.

Yukon Gold was named Seed of the Year – East for 2011, an annual competition honouring publicly developed Canadian cultivars that are judged for innovation, industry impact, value chain presence, sustainability and marketability. It is also a wonderful example of collaboration between the federal Agriculture & Agri-food Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Photo taken by author at the Elora Research Station, University of Guelph.
[IMG]http://fooddaycanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_07931-300x225.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks for this Durgan.

I'm new to potatoes and enjoyed these last couple years I grew them. Very versatile indeed.

YG's are one of my favorite spuds. I've never tried growing my own. Our winters are pretty mild here and I wonder if this is good or bad for potato growing. We usually only have a couple good freezes each winter. Rarely gets into the teens in degF. I may try putting a couple eyes into a grow bag and see what happens. Or should I wait until spring?

How was your yield of Yukon Gold?

I loved the taste but my yield was low compared to my other potatoes.

[QUOTE=jtjmartin;596718]How was your yield of Yukon Gold?

I loved the taste but my yield was low compared to my other potatoes.[/QUOTE]


[URL]http://durgan.org/2016/September%202016/4%20September%202016%20Yukon%20Gold%20Potatoes/HTML/[/URL] 4 September 2016 Yukon Gold Potatoes
Twelve Yukon Gold potatoes were dug. The total yield for storage was 34 pounds, average being 2.8 pounds per plant. This is lower than expectations of four to six pounds, but the size is adequate and the other characteristics are excellent. They will be dried in the green house for one day then placed in the basement root cellar. Total potatoes for storage from my little patch is 68 pounds.

Yukon Golds are not commercially available in Finland, but we have been growing those now quite many years. Back in 1996, when we lived in USA we smuggled 13 tubers in a luggage. My in-laws liked those so much that year by year they increased the amount of Yukon Golds planted on their field.
Since my mother-in-law passed two years ago we have now taken over the potato planting task and even we do not grow and eat as much potatoes as they used to do, Yukon Gold still gets most rows on the field. The older generation grew their own potatoes as necessity and we do it just as a hobby and to get varieties, which are not sold in any stores.

Sari

[QUOTE=jtjmartin;596718]How was your yield of Yukon Gold?

I loved the taste but my yield was low compared to my other potatoes.[/QUOTE]


[URL]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?BKWAI[/URL] 11 September 2010 Yukon Gold Test Box Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes were harvested today. A total weight of 23.5 pounds was harvested from the 4 by 4 foot test area. The quality is excellent. Another plant could probably be placed in the center of the area without crowding. The average weight per plant was 5.9 pounds. From my experience anything over 4 pounds is acceptable.

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These were never one of my favorites tobuy at the grocery, but given the kudos here I will look for seed as Im sure these will be available this spring.

[QUOTE=Black Krim;686002]These were never one of my favorites tobuy at the grocery, but given the kudos here I will look for seed as Im sure these will be available this spring.[/QUOTE]

The only reason I stopped growing them after many years is their relatively low production. We loved the taste, though, and it's great for earliness, size of spuds, and length of storage. Btw, there is another cultivar, similar to Yukon Gold, that is supposed to have much increased yield- maybe someone knows the name?

Yukon Gem

[QUOTE=Farmette;686008]Yukon Gem[/QUOTE]

Thanks, Farmette! :D

No problem, Kath. I see another one out there listed as Yukon Nugget.

[url]https://www.mainepotatolady.com[/url] lists all three (if anyone is interested in descriptions - Y. Nugget currently is out of stock).

Full disclaimer - I haven't ordered from them (yet) :lol:

Yukon yields are very low for me, but so delicious I grow them every year anyway. We love them.

When i see family relations deveop it makes me wonder what weakness the original had. Apparently YG is liked well enough to spend the time and $ to develop improved varieties.

Im still dreaming of ordering from MPL....I cant make up my mind re blue potatos. lol