Charlotte potatoes remain one of my favourite varieties to grow.
Reasons I like to grow First Early Potatoes.
- Home grown Charlotte potatoes are out of the ground before blight has a chance to strike ( most years but the British weather is strange and one year we had to harvest early as the leaves started to show signs of being attacked) .
- The earlies are a treat to have as there is no need to store you can dig them out or unearth a few at a time when you want to, once they are ready.
- Left a bit longer they get a bit bigger and the first smaller ones are really nice.
- Charlotte potatoes are a great ones for serving with salads and have that slightly 'earthy' taste that home grown new potatoes should have. They are 'classified' as waxy which indicates types suitable for eating simply boiled and served as they are with butter and maybe cooked with a sprig of mint. However I have had no problem roasting them and cooking them in other ways but think it would be a waste of the variety to mash them. They are never in the ground long enough to grow to a size needed for large baking potatoes. 'Floury varieties' of potatoes, can work better for mashes and baking and the types that mature later can often be stored while early types are best eaten close to the time when you lift them.
