Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy

This was sent by shepherds, Mathew and William Little, after I met them at the Borders Potato Event in 1998. It was cleared of virus in Edinburgh and is the only known variety to show red, white and blue colour together in the skin. As the tuber grows the blue outer pigment layer can give way at random to show a white and part red layer underneath. It is an early maincrop with a pleasant, fairly dry, cream flesh. The Little family had been given their original tubers by a friend at the Yetholm Fair, a gypsy horse fair - for Town Yetholm and Kirk Yetholm are among the few places in Scotland to have a strong link with Romany gypsies. A tiny pink cottage in Kirk Yetholm is called the “Gypsy Palace” and in 1899, the King of the Gypsies was crowned here. Perhaps the potato dates from that time and was produced by a local breeder. All concerned in marketing microplants agreed to call the variety Mr Little’s Yetholm Gypsy as a mark of respect for the now deceased William Little.

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