Growing your own potatoes is an incredibly satisfying way to try unusual varieties that you can’t buy in a supermarket. Some of the most flavoursome potatoes are rarely produced commercially. But by choosing and planting your own seed potatoes, you can savour exceptional flavours and textures, transforming your culinary efforts.
Whether you’re after tasty new potatoes, smooth mash, crisp roasties or the perfect chips, use our quick potato selector below to find the right variety for your needs.
What are the different types of potato?
Before you focus on specific varieties, it’s important to understand the main types of potatoes. Each type needs to be chitted, planted and harvested at a different time of year. These are:
To learn more about each type, read our full guide to the potato season.
How to choose the best potato for you
Image: Potato ‘Sarpo Mira’ from Suttons
There’s a huge range of seed potatoes from which to choose, so to help you narrow down the field, ask yourself a few questions. How do you want to grow your potatoes – in the ground or containers? How much space do you have in the garden? What size potatoes do you want to grow? And most importantly, how do you like to eat them?
If you have a large plot then you may decide to grow several different varieties. If you have limited space, then select a general purpose potato such as Maris Piper and maybe squeeze some salad potatoes into a container.
The following chart shows which varieties are best suited to each cooking method. We’re not saying, for example, that you can’t make chips from Pentland Javelin, but we are saying that your chips would be better if you used Desiree or Kestrel.
Potato selection chart
| Boil | Chip | Steam | Saute | Roast | Mash | Bake | New | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Anya | ||||||||
Arran Pilot | ||||||||
Casablanca | ||||||||
Charlotte | ||||||||
Desiree | ||||||||
Foremost | ||||||||
 International Kidney | ||||||||
Jazzy | ||||||||
Kestrel | ||||||||
King Edward | ||||||||
 Lady Christl | ||||||||
 Maris Peer | ||||||||
 Maris Piper | ||||||||
 Pentland Javelin | ||||||||
 Picasso | ||||||||
 Pink Fir Apple | ||||||||
 Red Duke of York | ||||||||
 Rocket | ||||||||
 Rooster | ||||||||
 Sarpo Mira | ||||||||
 Setanta | ||||||||
 Swift | ||||||||
 Vivaldi |
We hope our chart has helped you to choose the best potatoes for your needs. Once you’ve placed your order, read our guide on how to grow potatoes and pick up some top tips.
