The Vivaldi potato is a

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

bred by HZPC, in the Netherlands, and then passed to 'Naturally Best', based in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, who promoted and distributed the potato in the UK. Lab studies have shown 'Vivaldi' to be lower in calories and carbohydrates than many other popular potato varieties. The name was chosen as a reference to Antonio Vivaldi, since, as the potatoes are grown both in the UK and overseas, they are available during all " Four Seasons" of the year. The known parents of 'Vivaldi' are 'TZ 77 148' and 'Monalisa', who are not commonly grown in the UK. 'Vivaldi' is a Second Early variety producing oval tubers with yellow skin and pale yellow flesh and which are resistant to scab. As well as being known as 'weight watcher's potato', it is also referred to as the 'butterless baker', as its creamy texture and flavour mean one does not necessarily need to add butter to improve a baked 'Vivaldi's taste. Botanical features of this variety include a tall plant with stems weakly pigmented and slightly swollen nodes. Terminal and primary leaflets are ovate, the flowers have orange anthers and a white corolla with a prominent star. The tubers have few shallow eyes with light yellow flesh and the sprouts are a red-violet. Diseases resistances for this variety include, field immune to potato wart and it is highly resistant to PVA and PVY. Also, Vivaldi is moderately resistant to leaf roll, PVX, late blight on tuber,

silver scurf ''Silver scurf'' is a plant disease that is caused by the plant pathogen ''Helminthosporium solani.'' Silver scurf is a blemish disease, meaning the effect it has on tubers is mostly cosmetic and affects "fresh market, processing and seed tuber ...

, blackleg and black dot and is moderately susceptible to late

blight Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. Description Blight is a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral org ...

on leaves, common scab, powdery scab,

rhizoctonia ''Rhizoctonia'' is a genus of fungi in the order Cantharellales. Species form thin, effused, corticioid basidiocarps (fruit bodies), but are most frequently found in their sterile, anamorphic state. ''Rhizoctonia'' species are saprotrophic, bu ...

and skin spot. It was the winner in the Fresh Produce category at the Q Food and Drink awards in 2006 and won gold at

The Grocer ''The Grocer'' is a British magazine devoted to grocery sales, published by William Reed Business Media. It has been published since 1862. The Grocer 33 A feature of the magazine is 'The Grocer 33'. This is a survey of each of the 5 leading s ...

Label Awards in 2011. It was awarded the RHS AGM.

References

Potato cultivars Science and technology in Lincolnshire Antonio Vivaldi {{potato-stub