Bodega Red

I got these from Seed Savers Exchange, Heritage Farm in 2024. Generally medium in size with an average length of 8.8 cm and the average width of 7.3 cm. Round to oblong in shape. Bright red skin with cream colored flesh. Moderate uniformity due to variation in size. Great productivity with just under 3 pounds per plant. Waxy, very sweet, and low starch. SSE Accession # 132779. Bodega Red is one of only a handful of potato varieties introduced to the United States directly from the potato motherland: South America. It is one of a rare group of potatoes brought up the west coast of South, Central America and Mexico to the United States and was adopted by early settlers. Genetic testing has shown that the potato originated from Chilean potatoes. Bodega Reds are part of a small group of potatoes, which includes the Makah Ozette that made their way all the way up the West Coast into Southeastern Alaska. Local legend claims that before the Gold Rush of the late 1840s, the Bodega Red potato jumped ship with a sailor in northern California above San Francisco at Bodega Bay in Sonoma County. It prospered, and this area – Bodega Bay to Petaluma and along Tomales Bay into Marin County became known as the potato capital of California. During this time, the Bodega Red was shipped on barges from Bodega Bay to San Francisco where it fed the San Francisco Bay area.