You might know them simply as white or red, and buy them either washed or brushed. If pressed, you might even be able to name three or four varieties. But for most Australians that’s about as far as it goes when it comes to potatoes.



A recent scan of large Coles and Woolworths supermarkets in both Sutherland shire in Sydney and Goulburn in the New South Wales southern tablelands turned up eight or nine different types of potatoes in each store.

The Woolworths stores stocked four distinct varieties – ruby lou, dutch cream, desiree, and kipfler. Alongside these were potatoes sold under the brand names Golden Delight, Cream Delight, Red Delight and Spud Lite.

The British potato variety nicola. Photograph: Alamy

Meanwhile, on the shelves at Coles were the varieties desiree, kipfler, virginia rose, and carisma. Coles were selling another variety, nadine, as baby potatoes, or chats. The brandname potatoes Creme Gold, Creme Royale and Red Royale were also on offer.

Some were marked as being good for specific things, such as baking or roasting. Others were simply washed or brushed (meaning some dirt was left on).

If you walk into a large British supermarket you are likely to see many more varieties of potato for sale, with shoppers appearing to be much more selective about what they buy.



Tesco, for example, had 16 distinct varieties of potato for sale in its Shaftesbury store last autumn; none were being sold under brandnames. All were clearly marked to show whether they were best for boiling, roasting, baking, mashing or frying.

Three of the potato varieties come under the category of all-rounders – meaning they will work in most potato dishes, though they might not necessarily excel in any of them.

Among the big sellers were new potatoes – young spuds with thin, wispy skins and a waxy texture. These are popular in Britain but are rarely found in Australian supermarkets. These buttery, yellow-fleshed potatoes taste very different from the Australian chats, which are simply small potatoes sorted out from their larger siblings.

So why does a British supermarket sell around twice as many types of potato as the Australian equivalent at any one time, while relying on specific varieties rather than made-up brands? The experts agree that it’s partly because, unlike residents in many parts of Europe, Australians haven’t been adequately educated about the spud and its many varieties.

“There are hundreds of varieties of potato in Australia but the consumer doesn’t know about most of them because they haven’t been told,” says Robbie Davis, the chief executive of Potatoes South Australia. “The same goes for new potatoes.

“Not only that, but many Australian consumers have a perception that potatoes are boring, that they are unsophisticated. They are seen as a staple. They are time-consuming – you have to peel them. But the main thing is the consumer thinks ‘bad carbs, high carbs’ and they won’t eat them.”

About 80% of Australia’s fresh washed potatoes are grown year-round in the sandy soils of South Australia. Most are produced by large-scale farms, which are contracted to grow good-performing varieties for the supermarket chains.

“The supermarkets have certain specifications and it’s a highly integrated industry,” Davis says. “They are looking for varieties that have a long shelf life, that have certain skin characteristics, are reliable, and give good yields”

Potatoes are classified into two main groups. Waxy potatoes are low in starch and tend to hold their shape when cooked. They make good boiled potatoes. Floury potatoes have more starch and are good for baking, mashing, roasting and making chips.

The British Potato Council uses a scale to rate potatoes from one to 10, with waxier potatoes being at the lower end of the scale.

Popular potato varieties grown in Australia, including sebago, pontiac, and desiree are neither particularly waxy nor floury. According to Davis, these all-rounders tend to sell better in the Australian market as a whole than niche varieties, namely more waxy or floury types. “They like the all-rounder because they sell in volume,” she repeats.

A spokesman for Woolworth’s disputed the claim that the all-rounder sold more than other types, in its stores at least. Instead, potatoes that were advertised as “good for mashing” were the bestsellers.

“Woolworths tries to offer the customer a variety of potatoes that satisfy their needs. We know that our customers are more interested in what they can do with their potatoes, like boil, mash or fry, rather than what variety they are.”

Coles refused to be drawn on which types of potatoes sell best, but a spokeswoman did talk in general terms.

“At Coles, we work closely with our grower base to select varieties that are not only well-suited to the growing conditions present within Australia but also those that are popular in flavour, texture and appearance. Whilst we are very proud of the current range we offer, we are always looking at new varieties to provide the best range of potatoes for our customers.”

In recent years well-known varieties and those simply sold as washed or brushed have been joined in Australia by the potato brands, such as Golden Delight, sold by Woolworths, and Creme Gold, sold by Coles.

Each brand can be made up of different varieties of potatoes, a fact confirmed by major suppliers and supermarkets.

“We offer brand names of potatoes that may be [made up of] different varieties at different times of the year, but have the same characteristics and are good for the same style of cooking,” the Woolworths’ spokesman said. “Customers need only remember one name, rather than what variety is in season at that time.”

While industry experts insist that all potatoes sold in supermarkets in Australia are a good quality product, they believe that the lack of a national education campaign has not only resulted in the relative poor showing of niche potato varieties but is also partly to blame for the dramatic downfall of potato sales in general.

The national market for potatoes has decreased by up to 30% over the past decade, with a fall of 14% in the past two years alone. The decline has been put down to both popular diet books and competition from rice and pasta.

“The supermarkets are doing a relatively good job in promoting their potato brands, but if we are going to change things overall we need a national education campaign to show that potatoes are fun, sexy and incredibly good for you,” Davis says. “There hasn’t been one for over 30 years.

“I’ve just returned from Britain, where the British Potato Council has spent the equivalent of around $20m on marketing over the past 10 years, and this is going to continue.”

According to Paul Graham, from the Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia, the decline in potato sales has been reversed in his state, most likely because of a local industry marketing campaign. There has been a 5% rise in sales in the past two years, turning around a significant decline in previous years. The organisation markets 35 varieties of potatoes.

Meanwhile, niche producers keep plugging away too, despite not being able to compete with supermarkets on price.

Norman Gair, from Highland Gourmet Potatoes, grows 38 varieties of heritage potatoes, with names like cranberry red, purple congo, and pink fir apple.

He sells them at farmers’ markets in Sydney and at a farm gate stall at Wildes Meadow, near Robertson, in the NSW southern highlands.

“We spend a fair chunk of our time educating people at the markets about how good potatoes are for you and how different varieties are good for certain things,” he said.

“I like to expand people’s horizons. If I hadn’t tried anything different I would think sebago, desiree and kipfler were good spuds, but now I know that none of them are special, not when you compare them to a salad rose or a kennebec, or a toolangi delight.”