Tuffelrud

Research card canon

Mandelpotet

Also Langpotet, Krokeple, Almond potato, Mandelpotatis, Mandel

From
Norway: nordre Østerdalen, Gudbrandsdalen, Oppdal, Norway, Sweden, Finland (Nordic landrace)
When
Landrace, known since the 1800s; in Oppdal since 1858 to 1878
Bred or kept by
No breeder. Brought to Oppdal by district physician Hans Michael Arentz
Parents
none recorded
How sure
origin partly
Shape
small, very elongated, somewhat flattened, often crooked; a bend in the middle in the Oppdal selection
Proportion
2.6 times as long as wide, measured from photos
Size
unknown
Bend
slight
Knobs
none
Skin
pale yellow to light buff-brown (botanically white: no red or blue pigment), smooth
Flesh
yellow
Eyes
shallow, same as skin
Dormancy
unknown
Flesh type
floury
Health
Very strongly attacked by late blight on foliage and tubers; not resistant to wart (NIBIO). Swedish ECPD record gives storage ability as very poor. Low yield; quality improves with weak nitrogen.
The name
Mandel is almond, for the long almond-like tuber. Krokeple reads as 'crooked apple' (eple, jordeple: old Norwegian words for potato); Langpotet is 'long potato'. The readings of Krokeple and Langpotet are ours from the words, not from a source.
Protected names
Fjellmandel fra Oppdal, Fjellmandel. Told here as facts; never used as a character's name.

The colour swatches are the flat colours the drawings use, read from photos and lifted to even daylight; the card says how.

What it looks like. A small, long, slightly flattened tuber, about two and a half times as long as it is wide, often with a gentle bend in the middle. Thin smooth skin, pale yellow to buff, with shallow eyes. Flesh is yellow. The plant has a dark brown, branched stem and white flowers. Lengths were read from the Finnish-origin photo (2.0, 2.8, 2.9 on three tubers) and the Swedish photo; the stubby Swedish tuber (about 1.3) shows the variety is not uniform.

Why it lives where it lives. Mandel is very susceptible to late blight on both leaves and tubers, so it is grown mostly in the north and in dry mountain valleys where blight pressure is low (NIBIO). In Oppdal it must grow above 400 m to carry the protected name, and only about one tuber in four passes the grading. Low yield, high dry matter, best with little nitrogen: it gives little, and what it gives is fine.

History. A landrace known since the 1800s, with no breeder. In Oppdal it arrived between 1858 and 1878 with district physician Hans Michael Arentz and became the main table potato there; it has been grown for sale mainly since the 1980s (beskyttedebetegnelser.no). Arentz is a historical public figure; he may be told as a fact, not portrayed as a character.

Names. Mandelpotet is the cultivar and may be used. "Fjellmandel fra Oppdal" is a protected geographical indication (forskrift 26 May 2006 no. 554): it may be told as a fact in a story but never used as a character name, product name or on anything sold (foundation, section 3). The folk names Krokeple and Langpotet are free to use.

Story hooks (facts only). The crook; the grading that passes one in four; blight that keeps it in the cold uplands; low nitrogen makes it better.

In the cellar

Where sources disagree

skin colour

NIBIO: 'Skallet er hvitt' (white); the atlas paraphrased it as 'white to pale yellow'

Fjellmandel fra Oppdal PGI: 'Lysebrunt eller gult skall' (light brown or yellow)

How we settled it: Both are right in their own vocabulary. In variety descriptors 'white' is a pigment class (no anthocyanin), not a paint colour; ECPD records the same skin as 'white to yellow'. All three photos (a Swedish Mandelpotatis, a Finnish-origin Mandel clone shown in Germany, a Norwegian market crate) show a pale yellow to light buff-brown skin, darker where soil or lenticels stain it. Card uses pale yellow-buff. Lit skin sampled #A69B77 and #7E6E55 on the dim Finnish photo; lifted to #C9B48A. Still to check against real Oppdal tubers in hand (backlog: M1 real tubers).

bend

NIBIO: 'gjerne noe krokete' (often somewhat crooked)

Oppdal PGI: a characteristic bend in the middle

How we settled it: Not a real conflict: the Oppdal grading selects for the bend. Photos show a slight bend on most tubers and a few straight ones. Card says slight; a character may carry a stronger bend as an individual trait.

Still unknown

  • Dormancy length: no source found.
  • Typical size in cm: 'small' only; no photo with a scale.
  • Whether Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish Mandel are one clone or several.
  • Whether 'Fjellmandel' alone is protected or only the full name; card lists both to be safe.

Sources

  • kvann.no: NIBIO gene bank text: landrace known since the 1800s, synonyms Langpotet and Krokeple, small very elongated somewhat flattened often crooked tubers, white skin, shallow eyes, yellow flesh, half-late, low yield, high dry matter, weak nitrogen, dark brown branched stem, white flowers, very susceptible to late blight, not wart resistant, Fjellmandel fra Oppdal
  • nibio.no: same description online: 'Skallet er hvitt', 'grunne øyne', 'kjøttet er gult'
  • beskyttedebetegnelser.no: PGI Fjellmandel fra Oppdal: 'Lysebrunt eller gult skall', 'en karakteristisk bøy på midten', grown above 400 m, one in four tubers passes grading, brought by Hans Michael Arentz 1858 to 1878
  • europotato.org: Swedish accession: skin white to yellow, flesh yellow, shape very long, eyes very shallow to shallow, storage ability very poor
  • en.wikipedia.org: Nordic distribution and the almond name

Reference photos

Used to read proportion and colour, credited here, and never traced or copied into the drawings.