It amazes me that when they sell potatoes in Polish stores, there is only ONE kind of potatoes. (It's the case too for most vegetables and fruit).
Statistics:If this is the case then this must be a distribution problem, not the producers' fault. Polish National Registry has 129 varieties (source 2: as of October 2011) legally acceptable for consumption in Poland: both for the direct consumption and for the production of food (such as potato chips, French fries, mashed potatoes), animal feed, starch and ethanol. Among them the direct consumption varieties prevail (71%). Earlier source (source 1: year 2003) lists 117 varieties: 83 of Polish origin (69.9% of seeding area) and 34 Dutch and German (30.1% of seedling area). In the last several years 59 new varieties have been registered (33 national and 26 foreign). The Potato Institute - a part of Institute of Plant Breeding and Acclimatization) takes care of the research of new varieties.
Desired properties:Poland specializes in early maturing varieties. There are many, many properties to be considered during selection of varieties: size of tubers, shape (round is better), regularity, depth of meshes (shallow is better), skin quality (smooth is visually better), resistance to light (some get green in time), type (A: salad type B: general utility, desired quality: not too loose, not crumbling during cooking), tastiness, resistance to blackening during cooking, heterogeneity of flesh, resistance to viruses.
Most popular varieties:
- Very Early:
(source 1) [Denar and Lord (national); Impala and Krasa (foreign)]
(source 2) [Krasa, Irys, Gloria, Denar, Berber, Lord, Irga]
- Early:
(source 1) [Korona (national); Vineta and Vitara (foreign)]
(source 2) [Nora, Augusta, Gracja, Vineta]
- Mid-Early:
(source 1) [Bartek, Andromeda and Zebra (national); Satina and Folva (foreign)]
(source 2) [Ibis, Pirol, Żagiel, Satina, Kuba]
- Mid-Late and Late:
(source 1) [Syrena and Wawrzyn (national)]
- Late:
(source 2) [Uran, Lenino, Bzura, Ślęza, Sonda, Medea]
[1] ppr.pl/dzial-odmiany-ziemniakow-3730.php
[2] pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziemniak
[3] ihar.edu.pl/ziemniak.php