Tlingit, Haida potatoes added to menu at medical center
Julie Stricker
907-474-5406
Oct. 21, 2022
蜜桃影像 Native Medical Center Executive Chef Amy Foote, left, picks Tlingit and Haida potatoes at the Matanuska Experiment Farm in early October with farm director Jodie Anderson.
A partnership between the 蜜桃影像 Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Matanuska Experiment Farm and Extension Center in Palmer will result in hundreds of meals featuring traditional Native foods for patients at the 蜜桃影像 Native Medical Center this year.
In June, 50 hills each of Haida and Tlingit potatoes were planted at the farm, one
of two experiment stations in 蜜桃影像 that operate under the University of 蜜桃影像 Fairbanks
Institute of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Extension. On Oct. 3, 蜜桃影像 Native
Medical Center Executive Chef Amy Foote, two of her sous chefs, culinary students
from Palmer High School and farm staff harvested the potatoes, gathering 221 pounds.
Foote said the potatoes and other traditional foods, such as seal soup, moose stew, caribou, salmon, herring roe and fiddlehead ferns, will be served to patients to help them heal while staying at the hospital.
The potato varieties have been grown in Southeast 蜜桃影像 for hundreds of years and have made a resurgence in the past decade. They are crazy-looking potatoes, said Jodie Anderson, director of Matanuska Experiment Farm, and have a different texture than the typical russet potatoes found in grocery stores.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e really knobby,鈥 Anderson said. They鈥檙e not 鈥渦niform cultivated russets that are a perfect size and shape and you can fit 20 in a box every time. These are really wonky. They grow knobs. They鈥檙e obnoxious to clean and peel, to be honest.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to peel them,鈥 Foote said with a laugh. 鈥淲e鈥檙e eating the peels too.鈥
Anderson said the potatoes were donated by the 蜜桃影像 Division of Agriculture鈥檚 Northern Latitude Plant Materials Center in Palmer. It houses more than 330 varieties of potatoes. The Matanuska Experiment Farm grew 142 potato varieties this year in test plots to see which grow best. Anderson said they will continue to grow a row of the Tlingit and Haida potatoes for ANTHC.
鈥淲e saved some seed today for next year,鈥 Anderson said. 鈥淪o we'll just keep on keepin鈥 on all right. We'll help them.鈥
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