Varieties

Many different varieties of Peruvian yellow potatoes are cultivated. One popular cultivar, the Criolla, is small and round and typically grown at 6,500 feet/2,000 meters. It has thin skin and golden yellow flesh and is almost always roasted or boiled in its jacket. The Criolla is often used in Latin American soups, where it imparts a characteristic dark yellow color and is cooked until it falls apart and thickens the broth.

Blue or purple potatoes are small to medium size and have thin, dark blue to black-violet skin and bright purple flesh. They get their vivid interior color from certain minerals in the soil. The showy purple color mellows with cooking, but refrigerating the potatoes before cooking will heighten their color once they are cooked. Stirring freshly squeezed lime juice into the cooked and mashed potatoes will also brighten the color.