Ringerikspotet

What it looks like. Small, knobbly, uneven tubers, wider than they are long, with very deep eyes and a sunken stolon end. Skin pink to red; flesh strongly yellow, and when cut there is often a red ring just inside the skin where the vascular tissue runs. In the photo with a matchbox the tubers measure about 3.7 by 4.3 cm to 4.1 by 4.9 cm, inside the PGI's 25 to 52 mm grade.

The red ring. The ring is only visible when the potato is cut. It is the strongest hidden mark in this first set.

History. Documented from about 1865 at Søndre By in Hole, brought there by farmer, member of parliament and mayor Morten Ludvig Sundt. The next owner, Jens Aabel, grew it widely, so it was also called Aabler. Where it came from before that is disputed even within NIBIO: the Oslo botanical garden, an old Scottish heirloom brought by traders, or Solør. Sundt and Aabel are 19th-century public figures; told as facts, not portrayed.

How it must be grown. Too much nitrogen ruins it. It is prone to dry rot and viruses, so the growers start every few seasons from clean mini-tubers. It falls apart when boiled; it is steamed.

Names: the rule. The protected geographical indication is "Ringerikspotet fra Ringerike" (forskrift 25 June 2007 no. 695), held for Ringerikspotet BA, and the cultivar shares the word. Foundation section 3 lists "Ringerikspotet" itself among protected food names. So: the word may appear in prose as the kind's name and as fact (this card, the field guide's research text), but never as a character's name, in a product or product name, or on anything sold, including merchandise that would show a character's kind label. If the field guide ever sells prints, a character of this kind needs its kind label shown some other way (for example "Aabler", the folk name, after a check that it is free). Owner or lawyer to confirm before anything is sold.