Cultivar Corner: Blackberry’s purple skin, flesh make it ideal for specialty potato market
Blackberry (MSZ109-10PP)
Parentage: COMN07-W112BG1 x MSU200-5PP
Developers: Michigan State University and MSU AgBio Research (potatobg.css.msu.edu)
Strengths: Blackberry is a tablestock variety with unique purple skin and a deep purple flesh. The tubers have an attractive, uniform, round shape and purple flesh with low incidence of internal defects. Yield can be high under irrigated conditions. Blackberry will also chip process out of the field.
Plant variety protection: To be applied for
Morphological Characteristics
Plant: Full-sized vine, semi-erect with a balance between stems and foliage visible and flowers.
Tubers: Round109-10PP tubers with a smooth skin and purple skin and purple flesh color. Tubers have a deep purple flesh with a low incidence of internal defects.
Agronomic Characteristics
Maturity: Mid-season
Tubers: Round tubers with purple skin and purple flesh
Yield: Average to above average
Specific gravity: Averages 1.070 in Michigan
Culinary quality: Chip processes from short- through long-term storage
Foliage: Full-sized, semi-erect vine
Diseases: Some moderate common scab tolerance
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Incentives for production
The unique purple skin and purple flesh of the tubers offer a unique potato that could lend itself to the specialty variety market, such as gourmet restaurants and food stores, as well as farm and roadside markets. The primary market for this clone will be farm market, direct retail sale growers and home gardeners. This variety is also used as a gourmet chip processing variety.
RELATED: Great Lakes Potato Chip to make Blackberry chip
