It was girl power all the way as Countrywide celebrated Nollaig na mBan with an all-female panel and stories of sisters doing it for themselves all over the country. Reporter Suzanne Campbell paid a visit to Maria Flynn who's striking potatoes are currently enjoying a purple reign. Maria was faced with the prospect of a reduced income from her family farm and decided to roll up her sleeves and come up with a solution: purple spuds. The Violetta is a specialist heritage potato with a black skin and surprisingly vibrant purple flesh and it's proving a big hit with chefs. Maria says,
"I just love to see people's reaction when you put a knife to them and you cut into them and they see the inside of them for the first time. The colour is amazing."
The potatoes contain anthocyanins similar to those present in beetroot which Maria says gives them their rich colour.
"A lot of people ask what do they add to the seed to make it purple and the answer is nothing. Potatoes were actually purple before they were white. Huge, huge health benefits to these particular potatoes in terms of antioxidants like any other purple fruit or vegetable."
Maria says you can boil, steam or roast them or get as creative as you like. Suzanne took them for a test drive and can personally vouch for their taste and quality.
"It looks like beetroot, it's just absolutely gorgeous. Its tastes like real old-fashioned potatoes… If you think about the rooster, we've bred it for shelf life, we've bred it for being blemish-free, we've bred it for disease resistance. Taste usually is out the backdoor with a lot of modern fruit and veg."
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Photo: Suzanne Campbell