Tatties really are good for you, and contain Vitamin C, B6, potassium and fibre. Did you know that potatoes have more potassium than a banana? Cheap and nutritious, spuds are ideal winter fitness fuel.

Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) is the research body that ensures Scottish seed potatoes are blight-resistant and disease free. Every year Edinburgh allotment plot holders get to trial heritage seed potatoes and report back to SASA.

This year we grew ‘blue gloss’ that weren’t blue but small, perfectly round and delicious. A faff to wash, I can see why they’re not grown commercially. According to the European Cultivated Potato database (yes, it is a thing) the pedigree of ‘blue gloss’ is from 1946.

The humble spud has long been a valuable source of energy to humans. Originally farmed in the Andes mountains around 10,000 years ago and then brought to Europe in the 1500’s by the Spanish (¡patatas bravas!), Solanum tuberosum, to give it it’s botanical name, grows well in Scotland. Potatoes are the underground storage organ of a plant in the nightshade family (that includes tomatoes). Tubers store nutrients and carbohydrates for the plant, to help it survive. You plant one ‘seed’ potato in spring, then dig up a whole bunch from summer onward. We grow first earlies, early and maincrop tatties.

According to the NHS, potatoes are “enjoyed as the starchy part of a meal” and that we eat a lot of them… they don’t count towards your five a day. That doesn’t make sense to me either. It’s clearly an anti-tuber policy. Grrr.

It’s good to get quality spuds, Leithwise and Scotmid stock a good variety of cultivars (often East Lothian). Easter Greens at the top of Easter Road sell the biggest baking tatties, find them outside the door.

Scrub them well and cook skin on for extra Vitamin C, fibre and texture.

Day 1 Simply boiled: A good test of your potatoes’ qualities: floury, waxy, firm, crumbly? Scrub, then pop whole tiny tatties in a pan of cold water. They’ll cook as you bring water to the boil. Best served slightly firm. They’ll keep cooking, so drain and toss with butter and / fresh herbs / sea salt.

Day 2 Special Potatoes: Named after the side dish from Best Kebab, Leith Walk. They serve the best fried chunks of potato with their kebabs. Lightly boil or microwave tatties (or use yesterday’s boiled spuds), then shallow fry in a generous amount of rapeseed oil until golden and crispy. Sometimes I add smoked paprika near the end.

Day 3 Spanish Omelette: Sauté onion and garlic, then stir in leftover Special potatoes from day two, or use leftover roast potatoes chopped small. To the frypan, pour over 4 free-range / organic eggs beaten with a small bit of milk, cream cheese, yoghurt or similar. Cook until the egg is nearly set, then slather with cheese and grill to finish. Leftovers are good cold for lunch the next day ‘elevated’ with freshly chopped herbs.

Day 4 Baked Potatoes: As a vegetarian living on North Bridge in the late nineties, ‘The Baked Potato Shop’ on Cockburn Street was my weekend pantry (opened in 1983 by restauranteur David Bann, it sadly closed in 2023). At home, find the hugest of your harvest and bake in a reasonably high oven for as long as it takes. Scabby tatties make crunchy skins. It’s true and yum. Top with grated cheese, garlic mushrooms, and seasonal salad. Or veg haggis.

Day 5: Potato and leek soup served with toasted crusty sourdough makes a good meal. Sauté leek in plenty butter, add unpeeled chunks of tatties and stir to get potato buttery. Then pour over a good veg stock and cook until spud collapses under a potato masher. Mash by hand for a superior texture. Thyme is nice at the end.

Day 6: Pommes Anna are so so so good…I only make it every now and again honest. It’s super-finely sliced potato with lots and lots of butter in a baking dish in the oven. Crispy and soft all at once. Heaven. One for the weekend.

Day 7: Roasties: Heaven on earth is perfectly roasted potatoes. Scottish rapeseed oil is a cheaper and healthier alternative to goose fat (better for the goose too).

Bottom of the list is lumpy mash: As a child the mash sculpting scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind put me off eating the stuff. But I have learned to eat mash (if there’s no other option and definitely no lumps) as it’s OK with gravy.

Now chips and gravy, there’s another thing…

Bluesky: @tracygriffen

Info: The Healthy Living Yearbook, £9.99