On August 23 this year 22nd National Potato Days took place. This year we hosted at the WODR Poznań Education and Exhibition Center in Marszew near Pleszew.

The theme of this year’s industry meeting was the slogan – “Potato – integrated cultivation, quality and consumption”. Wielkopolska is a special region with a large share in the market production of potatoes in our country. This region has been associated with potato for a long time: historically, culinary and cultural under the name “Pyrlandia”. The most important goal of the meeting was an attempt to rebuild potato consumption in Poland, encouraging consumers to increase their consumption, mainly through interesting culinary solutions proposed by the housewife circles and information on the distinctness of culinary types (A, B, C), the purpose and evaluation of varieties on the market.

Co-organizers of this year’s event were WODR Poznań and IHAR-PIB, Seed and Potato Protection Plant in Bonin. On behalf of the organizers, the participants were welcomed by Dr. M. Jaworski – director of WODR Poznań and prof. E. Arseniuk – director of IHAR-PIB in Radzików.

This year’s Days gathered 30 companies specializing in potato production, which issued their sales offers, including all breeding and seed companies operating on the domestic market. The offer related to biological progress (the palette of new – perspective varieties), in addition to the stall presentation of certified seed potatoes of different varieties, a field promotional collection was organized (in total over 90 varieties entered in the National Register and varieties from the Community Catalog). Brochures with short descriptive characteristics of the most important features of individual varieties have been made available to visitors of the collection. An overview exhibition of selected and perspective 40 potato varieties (edible and for the food industry) from the National Variety Registry could also be observed in the exhibition hall at the IHAR stand. The specialists on duty from IHAR Bonin and the Polish Potato Association provided information on the varieties and criteria for their selection for cultivation for various uses and solving problems in protection.

Competitions

For the tastiest potato dish

During the day of the XXII National Potato Days in Marszew, a competition for potato dishes was decided. The organizers of the competition called “Festival of Tastes – potato dishes competition” were the Wielkopolska Agricultural Advisory Center in Poznań, the Advisory Team in the Pleszew poviat and the Housewives’ Circle as well as other local Action Groups.

10 groups took part in the competition – 8 Country Housewife Clubs, the Women’s Forum Association of the Pleszewski Poviat and the Environmental Self-Help House in Czermina. These teams presented a variety of different dishes, among others: pyrczoki, potato cakes, szagagów, gray noodles, potato casseroles, baked potatoes, fried potatoes, cutlets and croquettes of potatoes, dumplings and several soups based on potatoes. The winners of the Festival of Tastes were all the housewives’ circles, in the summary of the competition they were awarded practical gifts in the form of home appliances and the awarding of diplomas.

After the assessment, general tasting took place for all those who came to the XXII National Potato Days, during which you could not only try all the dishes, but also receive the recipes according to which they were prepared.

Consumer Culinary Quality Competition – for the tastiest potato variety in 2015

As part of the promotion of edible varieties, a culinary quality competition for boiled potatoes was also held. A total of 7 varieties with distinctive taste and culinary qualities were submitted to the competition run by the employees of IHAR in Bonin, which were coded under numbers from 1 to 7. The varieties participating in the culinary competition are:

  • Jurek – Hodowla Ziemniaka Zamarte Sp. Zoo. – IHAR Group
  • Ignacy – Pomorsko-Mazurska Hodowla Ziemniaka Sp. Zoo.
  • Elfe – Europlant Handel Ziemniakami Sp. Zoo.
  • Jazzy – Agriana Sp. Zoo.
  • Madeleine – Agrico Polska Sp. z o. o.
  • Gala – Norika Polska Sp. z o. o.
  • EL Mundo – KWS Polska Sp. z o. o.

Participants visiting the 22nd National Potato Days could taste each of the 7 potato varieties and choose the tastiest one. The varieties were previously peeled, flooded with boiling water and cooked in a traditional way. After cooking, the varieties were evaluated by KDZ participants, who voted for the tastiest variety in an anonymous survey. After the scores were calculated by the selection board, the results were announced.

The highest place – 1st place in this year’s edition of the competition was given to the JAZZY variety (breeder. Agriana). The owner of the winning variety received the cup of the XXII National Potato Days and the second from the Wielkopolska voivode.

The participants of the National Potato Days, as well as visitors, were mainly producers, farmers and other people professionally interested in the potato-related business. In the training and discussion part, 4 seminars were held in the conference tent on key aspects of potato production and problems of protection against the most important pests and diseases.