Quarantina Bianca Potato
Location Illica, 45
43041 Bedonia
Parma
333.1855362
biologicaortigiani@gmail.com
Federico Rolleri is the "keeper" of the Quarantina potato in the Parma Apennines. Potato producer, vegetables and fruit in Valtaro and Valceno, he dedicated himself (and passionate) to biodiversity and the Forty potato for about fifteen years. "The greatest advantage of the Quarantina potato is the very limited quantity of sugar - he says -. It is an unmistakable potato, not so powdery compared to the other species in the white pulp, with a vague chestnut taste that makes it absolutely recognizable ". It's called Forty as all the products that have a vegetative cycle short. «A potato normally has a cycle of 110 days; this, much shorter: is planted between may and June and harvesting in September: it must take the first rains in order to create a skin that allows it to be preserved throughout the winter ". It was once considered precocious. "It is harvested in mid-August - explains Rolleri - in order to prepare the potato cake for Ferragosto".
Cake potato
The Quarantina potato is grown by 700 meters above sea level (Federico Rolleri's fields are in the territories of Bedonia, Albareto and Tornolo).
It has an irregular shape, tend to be round or round-to-oval, peel yellow clear, slightly wrinkled, with eyes deep and pink; the white paste, with fine texture and compact.
It is a very versatile tuber in the kitchen, perfect for preparing potato pie: with a thin pastry and a mixture of potatoes and leeks, as is the tradition. Also excellent for gnocchi and for cooking in the oven, but also for the preparation of mashed or stuffed. Goes very well with the fish. It is less suitable, instead, for frying.
There is also a variant called Prugnona, red-purple, similar to the potato of Tuscan Cetica. It is lumpy, with an eye more deep, and has a stronger flavour.
