Updated July 2019
When you envision large Idaho potatoes, incorporating four potatoes into one person’s meal is way too much eating. But, when you look at delectably small potatoes, those bursting with flavor (and nutrition!), then this proverb makes perfect sense. Here is some insight into potato sizes – and the benefits of using small potatoes in your culinary dishes.
“Back in the day,” Farmer Lee Jones remembers, “farmers didn’t even bother to pick the small potatoes, because they weren’t worth the trouble. At The Chef’s Garden, though, we take the opposite approach, sorting out the large ones and sending them to the food bank.”
Potato Sizing Chart
Potatoes sold at grocery stores are typically:
- size A potatoes (2.5 inches in diameter)
- size B potatoes (1.5 to 2.25 inches in diameter)
- size C potatoes (less than 1.5 inches in diameter); we’ve seen C-sized potatoes described as the smallest ones available
“Well,” Lee says, “C-sized potatoes definitely are smaller than those sized A and B, but we offer small and delicious potatoes that are sized D, E, and F – as well as G and H. We plant our potatoes closely together, cramming them because we’re striving for small, flavor-packed potatoes. We harvest them early, when they are delicate and delicious, when they make a great presentation on the plate.”
Here’s a potato sizing chart for smaller potatoes:
D 1 ¼” – 1 ½”
E 1” – 1”
F ¾” – 1”
G ½” – ¾”
H ¼” – ½”
Now, before we go any further, we want to share how you can order farm-fresh potatoes in just the right sizes for your dishes. Just contact us online, and we can get you set up with a product specialist who will help you to get exactly what you need, including more information about our potato sizing chart. Here is more shipping information for your potatoes and other produce.
Potato Planting
This video shows how the team at The Chef’s Garden uses a 1952 John Deere potato planter, slightly modified, to plant potatoes. This equipment is chosen for its gentle handling and ability to space the potatoes just right in the soil, an ideal method to prevent unwanted soil compaction during planting. Watch as potatoes from the previous fall season, saved for seed, are planted into rich loam soil.
Rather than choosing to plant varieties of potatoes that will yield tons per acre, potatoes from The Chef’s Garden are chosen for their premier flavor and nutrition, and Farmer Lee encourages people to eat them with the skin (the most nutritious part of the potato!) still on. Besides adding a punch of flavor and nutrition, the range of colors available in potato skins create an attractive presentation on the plate (more about the visual appeal later!).
Potato Harvesting
In the video, you can also see how gently potatoes are harvested at The Chef’s Garden, using an heirloom Hoover potato digger. That way, they don’t get bruised or skinned.
Although hand harvesting is labor-intensive, the result for our small potatoes is worth the effort. “These morsels are tender and tiny,” Lee says, “potatoes you don’t have to peel. They create a fun, unique, tantalizing, and flavorful presentation, ideal because we eat with our eyes first.”
Send Photos
“We’re always excited to discover how chefs use our bite-sized potatoes in their creative culinary dishes,” Lee adds, “and love it when chefs share pictures of their masterpieces with us!”
More about Potato Sizes Available at The Chef’s Garden
Here are our varieties of potatoes and sweet potatoes that are available in a rainbow of sizes.
All Blue Potatoes
All Blue Potatoes are available year-round at The Chef’s Garden, with a range of colors from light- to medium- to dark-purple tones. They offer up a creamy flavor, spicy like black pepper, and tomato skin. These loosely bound, tender potatoes are less dense than other options, with relatively high moisture. Potato sizes range from the B potato (2 ¼” – 2 ½”) to potato size H (¼” – ½”), and everything in between.
Austrian Crescent Potatoes
Austrian Crescent Potatoes are also available throughout the year. The flavor is slightly creamy, with a bittersweet, almost cake-like quality. The flesh is brittle, dense, and dry, with a granular structure. Potato sizes range from potato B (2 ¼” – 2 ½”) to potato size H (¼” – ½”), and everything in between.
German Butterball Potatoes
No matter what time of year it is, these German Butterball Potatoes are available. This round to oblong tuber has golden skin with bright yellow flesh—and a soft, buttery flavor. The texture is firm with somewhat flaky skin and shallow eyes. As far as potato sizes, you guessed it! They’re available from the B potato (2 ¼” – 2 ½”) to potato size H (¼” – ½”), and everything in between.
Red Thumb Potatoes
These stunning Red Thumb Potatoes have a spotted maroon exterior with a gemstone interior—rose quartz, that is. These medium to long tubers are uniformly shaped, with colors fading from darker on the edges and lighter in the center. They offer up the sweetest flavor imaginable; earthy, too. The texture is dry and waxy, and you know the drill about potato sizes: from potato B to H (C, D, E, F, and G, too!)
Mixed Potatoes
Also consider using a flavorful mix of potatoes in dishes. Our mixed potato offerings include both round and fingerling potatoes, a marvelous mix of round and elongated tubers. Available year-round, you may receive potatoes ranging from light brown to tan, gold to yellow, and cream, and from rose to amethyst. Flavors range from mild to rich, with textures also encompassing the rainbow of firm to soft. And, yes. These mixed potatoes come in the entire range of sizes!
You can find even more information of potato offerings here.
As far as sweet potatoes, The Chef’s Garden offers chefs with many different varieties of flavorful, nutrient-rich choices, along with the best-of-the-day mixed sweet potatoes. These include (but may not necessarily be limited to!):
- Burgundy Sweet Potatoes: This variety provides such a delicious balance of flavors, peppery and sweet, while also being slightly salty. Plus, it’s both creamy and spicy. When raw, the fruity notes come to the forefront. Baked, you can enjoy pleasantly sweet flavors. The brilliant orange flesh is smooth, like jam, with peels easily removed.
- Copper Penny: Imagine the marvelous flavors of fall squash and roasted carrots, plus grilled lemon—and you’ll get a sense of what this farm-fresh sweet potato offers to the palate. This sweet potato variety has a rich, dense texture, reminiscent of fall squash, and provides plenty of nutritious beta-carotene.
- Sweet Rustic: This sweet potato provides a flavor that’s reminiscent of fall squash, dense with a drier, fluffier texture than some other choices. The thin skin is easily removed.
- Creamsicles: Yes, you can get the intensely sweet and buttery cultured cream taste of an orange Creamsicle in a highly nutritious, farm-fresh sweet potato. Texture is smooth and velvety, and this choice fits in well with fall dishes and menus.
- Crème Brûlée: This sweet potato offers up unique flavors found nowhere else in a tuber: custard cream, crème anglaise, malted vanilla, and cane sugar caramel. This sweet potato has a marvelously creamy texture, with a clean finish on the palate.
- Crown Jewel Sweet Potatoes: From savory dishes to sweet ones, this purple sweet potato is ideal. With a waxy, dense texture, the Crown Jewel is perfect for frying. The nutritional value is impressive, and this smooth, farm-fresh choice can be used in a wide variety of creative dishes and menus.
- Mixed Sweet Potatoes: Here’s the very best of our sweet potato offerings, all in one! Enjoy.
Potato Beauty on the Plate
At The Chef’s Garden, we offer a wide range of potato sizes, each sustainably farmed for maximum flavor and nutrition. Because people eat with their eyes first, this range of potato sizes also provides chefs with nearly endless possibilities for creating beautiful presentations on their plates. At the Culinary Vegetable Institute, for example, Chef Jamie Simpson finds his plating inspiration in nature and, here, chefs of the day experiment with plating techniques:
When you include morsel-sized potatoes in your beautifully presented dishes, you’re creating perfect bites of flavor that, when creatively plated, offer up an extraordinary experience.
Sometimes, as chefs experiment, they may discover that a plate is becoming overcrowded—but, when you have a range of potato sizes to choose from, there’s one that’s just right, proportionally speaking, to create beauty on your plate.
Color also matters when plating, so having a choice of colors in your farm-fresh potatoes and sweet potatoes allows you to blend and contrast like the artist you are.
Plating with our wide range of potato sizes, colors, and textures allows you to create a visual culinary expression that sets expectations for the gastronomic experience yet to come. The art of plating nowadays showcases the creative skills of the chef, enhancing the uniqueness of the experience.
Creative plating allows you to tell the story of thoughtfully and poetically sourced potatoes and other ingredients, imagined in a way that tells a very specific story. Plating allows each chef to respectfully display each ingredient, interpreted in a way to create a highly memorable dining experience.
Fun Facts About Potatoes
Now, just for fun, here are three intriguing potato facts:
- Potatoes were the first vegetables grown in space, which happened in October 1955. The goal? To find ways to feed astronauts on long voyages in space and, ultimately, feed colonies expected to someday be established in outer space.
- The world’s largest potato was an astounding 7 pounds, 1 ounce. Two growers accomplished this goal, once in 1953 and another time in 1982.
- Finally, the world’s largest potato chip is now an exhibit in a museum. It was created by the Pringle’s Company in 1990. Its size is 23″ x 14.5″.
White and Sweet Potato Recipe
It just doesn’t seem right to include all this information about potatoes and not provide a recipe, right? And, since CVI Chef Jamie Simpson loves the Burgundy Sweet Potato, we thought we’d share some of his notes about that jewel, along with a recipe that combines both the traditional Russet potato and the Burgundy Sweet Potato.
Here are his notes:
- Brilliant orange flesh
- Highly versatile
- Smooth, consistent cell structure
- Fantastic change of pace from other potatoes
- Slightly salty, peppery, sweet, spicy and creamy all at the same time
- Brightest orange flesh
- Burgundy peels remove very easily
- #1 favorite of Chef
- Fruity notes when consumed raw
- Pleasantly sweet and crisp when baked
- VERY aromatic
- Balance in the face of the unforeseen
Now, here is the recipe to make ten pounds of mashed potatoes.
6 lbs. (60%) burgundy potatoes
3 lbs. (30%) dry white potatoes (russet will work)
1/3 lb. (.33%) milk
1/3 lb. (.33%) cream
1/8 lb. (.12%) green garlic
1/2 lb. (.50%) brown butter (2 sticks)
1/8 lb. (.12%) salt
Boil the white potatoes in salted water until soft and mash them. Roast the sweet potatoes and blend them. Blend the garlic shoots. Heat up all the dairy and add it slowly to the mashed white potatoes. Fold in the sweet potatoes and garlic and add salt. Keep these items warm until ready to serve.
Note from Chef Jamie: I used brown butter instead of regular butter and approximately 30 percent white potato by volume (this lightens the texture.) The dairy element is equal parts milk and cream. We will call it… half and half. Brown butter can be made very easily by cooking your butter in a pot gently until it turns brown visually, and aromatic wafts of nuts and toast fill the room. Then, it is ready to use.
Contact The Chef’s Garden Today
Let us be your personal farmer! For decades, we have been providing chefs with sustainably farmed, flavorful, nutritious fresh vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, microgreens, and more. If you’re already a customer, thank you very much! We look forward to serving you again.
If you’re a first-time customer, know that we’re thrilled to have you join our family! You can contact us online, and we’ll provide you with a product specialist who is passionate about providing you exactly what you need, right when you need it—including precisely the right potato sizes.