From: sbharris@ix.netcom.com(Steven B. Harris)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition,sci.chem
Subject: Re: what makes a purple potato purple?
Date: 6 Sep 1998 22:52:29 GMT

In <6sust7$jdn$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com> carmack@bigfoot.com writes:

>Anyone have an answer for this?



   Not me.  I'm not sure anyone knows.  Some work has been done on the
Hawaiian purple sweet potato, and it contains some novel acylated
anthocyanins, somewhat related to the stuff that makes huckleberries,
blueberries, and Delphiniums blue.  However the new purple potatoes
that everyone is cooking with, which taste much like the white ones,
are from Peru, (just like the white ones), where they are a local
variey.  Not the same thing as Hawaiian sweet potatoes, which are vine
plants and not closely related to the standard pome de terre at all.