Tasmania’s Agfest searching for the best kind of potatoes

ABC NEWS (Australia)

When it comes to potatoes, Tasmania punches above its weight producing more than any other state. Reporter Ashleigh Barraclough headed along to Agfest in search for the best potato.

Transcript

00:00From tornado potatoes to hot chips, Australians love their spuds, none more so than Tasmanians.

00:10Fried potatoes, any potato on earth, except for the potatoes are in the ground right now.

00:16But what sort of potatoes end up transformed into our favourite foods?

00:21So we use Kennebec for the spiral chips and we hand cut our chips as well, also with Kennebec, because they're just the best potato for frying.

00:30At Agfest in Northern Tasmania, plenty of people have opinions on the best type of potato.

00:36The Kennebec is grown in Tasmania, it's grown around sassafras, you can't get a better chip for roasting, baking or mashing.

00:42It's a Dutch cream because I like the white sea texture.

00:45Kennebec are good for hot chips, they're also good for baking and roasting, so no, they're all round good potato.

00:55I don't know much about potatoes but I know they're delicious when they're fried or smashed with veggies.

01:00Potatoes even have support at the highest echelons of Tasmanian government.

01:05The Premier is a potato farmer from the state's North West.

01:08Despite the spuds being the staple for hundreds of years, new varieties keep coming, which is exciting, it's fantastic.

01:19You know, I like talking spuds but I always stick to my traditional ones.

01:24For a scientific result, the University of Tasmania is testing potato density to find out which are starchy enough to make a nice crispy chip.

01:34This one here is a Russet Burbank potato, and if you put that in there, you can see it just went quunk.

01:41From Kipfler's to Dutch Cream's, choosing Tassie's best potato can be controversial, but most seem to say the Kennebec is the best all-rounder.

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