Russet Burbank

This potato has dark brown skin.

Inside, the flesh is white and dry. It is great for baking or mashing. You can also use it for fries.

One man helped make this kind of potato. He wanted to help plants stay healthy. This potato grows into a large shape.

Farmers use water to help them grow well. This makes the potatoes even more popular. Many people eat them in fast food.

They can stay fresh for a long time. This is a very common potato to find.

The Russet Burbank is a very common potato. It has dark brown skin. The inside is white and dry.

This potato is great for baking. It is also good for mashing. Many people use it to make french fries.

A man named Luther Burbank helped make it. He worked in 1873. He wanted to make plants stay healthy. This potato came from a plant called Burbank. It was once called the Netted Gem.

This potato grew in popularity over time. Farmers in Idaho used water to help them grow large ones. Then, fast food shops became popular. Many shops like McDonald's use this potato. They like the long shape for fries.

These potatoes can stay fresh for a long time. You can store them for five months. You must keep them at 7 °C. This is 44.6 °F. The plants have medium stems and large leaves. The potato itself is long and round. It has many small eyes on the skin. These eyes can grow brown or purple sprouts.

The Russet Burbank is a very famous potato in North America. It has dark brown skin and white flesh inside. This flesh is dry and mealy, which is a special texture.

This texture makes it perfect for baking or mashing. It is also the top choice for making french fries. Many people think of it as the standard potato. They use it to judge all other kinds of potatoes. It is a very common and popular food to eat.

Growing this potato involves many interesting parts. The plants are medium in size with thick, angled stems. They have medium leaves with large leaflets on the ends. The flowers have dark green buds that fall off easily.

The potatoes themselves are long and shaped like cylinders. They have many eyes spread evenly across the skin. These eyes can grow brownish-purple sprouts. If harvested too early, the skin might have issues. Some potatoes may even get internal black spots during storage.

This potato has a long and complex history. It started with a plant called Rough Purple Chili. Chauncey E. Goodrich brought that plant from South America in 1853. He wanted to add more variety to American potato stocks. Later, Albert Bresee bred a plant called Early Rose. Then, Luther Burbank bred a plant called Burbank in 1873. The Russet Burbank is a mutation of that Burbank plant.

It was once called the Netted Gem.

History shows us how the potato became so popular. In 1930, it was only 4% of US potatoes. Then, farmers in Idaho used irrigation to grow huge ones. This helped them make large potatoes for baking. The invention of frozen fries in the 1940s helped more. Fast food restaurants in the 1950s made it even bigger.

By the 2010s, it made up 70% of the processed potato market. It also covers over 40% of US potato growing areas.

Today, you can find this potato in many places. McDonald's uses the Russet Burbank as its top tuber. They like the long shape for making french fries.

These potatoes are also very easy to keep for a long time. You can store them for five months at 7 °C. That is the same as 44.6 °F. They stay fresh without needing special gases to stop sprouts. This makes them a very useful food for many people.

The Russet Burbank is a specific type of potato cultivar. A cultivar is a plant variety that has been produced through selective breeding. This potato is the most widely grown variety in North America. It is famous for its dark brown skin and white flesh. The texture of the flesh is described as dry and mealy. These physical traits make it ideal for specific cooking methods. It is a top choice for baking and mashing. It is also the primary potato used for making french fries. Many people now consider it the standard potato for comparison.

Growing the Russet Burbank involves several distinct botanical features. The plants are medium in size with medium-thickness stems. These stems are prominently angled rather than smooth. The leaves are also medium-sized with large leaflets at the ends. The flowers produce medium-sized buds that are dark green. These buds drop from the plant quite readily. The tubers themselves are large and long. They often grow in a cylindrical or slightly flat shape. The skin features many eyes that are evenly distributed. These eyes can produce brownish-purple sprouts as they grow.

This variety has a complex lineage involving many different breeders. The history began in 1853 with Chauncey E. Goodrich. He imported a plant called Rough Purple Chili from South America. He wanted to add diversity to American potato stocks. At that time, many stocks were susceptible to late blight. Goodrich bred Garnet Chili from the Rough Purple Chili. Later, Albert Bresee bred Early Rose from Garnet Chili. In 1873, Luther Burbank bred a plant called Burbank from Early Rose. The Russet Burbank is a mutation of this Burbank plant.

There are many different stories about when this potato was released. Some people incorrectly reported it was selected in 1914. They believed a Colorado grower named Lou D. Sweet selected it. However, a 2014 study corrected this historical record. The study confirmed it was originally released in 1902. It was released by a company called L. L. May & Co. At that time, the variety was known as the Netted Gem. It was also formerly known as the Russell. Eventually, it became popularized as the Russet potato in American stores. Because potatoes grow from tubers, they could not be patented in the United States.

The popularity of the Russet Burbank has changed significantly over time. In 1930, it accounted for only 4% of potatoes in the US. Several factors caused its massive growth in the following decades. First, the introduction of irrigation in Idaho helped growers. They found they could produce large potatoes easily. These large tubers were perfect for the baking market. Next, the invention of frozen french fries in the 1940s helped. The rise of fast food restaurants in the 1950s helped even more. By the 2010s, it held 70% of the ultra-processed potato market in North America. It also covers over 40% of the potato growing area in the US.

Specific industries rely heavily on the unique shape of this tuber. McDonald's is a notable example of a user. As of 2009, the Russet Burbank was McDonald's top tuber. Restaurants favor it because its long shape produces long french fries.

The potato is also very efficient for long-term storage. It can be kept for up to five months. This works well at a temperature of 7 °C, or 44.6 °F. It does not require special gases to stop the sprouts from growing. However, growers must watch for internal black spot, known as IBS. They must also avoid harvesting too early to prevent skinning issues.

Understanding the Russet Burbank also requires looking at its disease resistance. It is highly resistant to a disease called black leg. It also shows moderate resistance to common scab. It can resist some forms of fusarium dry rot. These include Fusarium oxysporum and F. sambucinum. However, it is still susceptible to other biological threats. It can be affected by late blight, which is caused by Phytophthora infestans. It is also vulnerable to leaf roll, verticillium wilt, and PVY. Scientists can use genetically modified potatoes to help resist the Colorado Potato Beetle. This shows how the potato connects to the field of modern genetics.