Chefs get creative with U.S. frozen potatoes

Farm and Ranch Report November 3, 2010 U.S. frozen potatoes can be so much more than a simple side dish or fries. Those words are from U.S. Potato Board International Trade Manager of Frozen Product Susan Weller. The proof of her statement is in the results of a reverse trade mission for chefs from leading international restaurants held by the Potato Board this past year. Weller says the mission was used to get chefs thinking about using U.S. potatoes as a high quality, nutritious ingredient upon which to experiment with new food trends.

Weller: “We had 57 items or menu applications launched in marketing year 10.”

Here is a new product South Korea came up with through experimentation.

Weller: “They actually decided to use a potato chip, it is a frozen chip, and they added cranberry sauce into a dish. So they used the chip and the cranberry sauce as a dish.”

Also in South Korea the Domino’s Pizza chain, with 320 outlets, introduced a “Napoli Fresh Pizza” featuring a Neapolitan style pizza topped with sliced potatoes, among other ingredients.

In the end here is what it means for potato growers.

Weller: “Actually with those two different menu items, the chips with the cranberries and the pizza, there was an increased usage of an additional 10.5 metric tons per month.”

That’s the U.S. Potato Update. Brought to you by the United States Potato Board, maximizing return on grower investment. I’m Bob Hoff for Northwest Aginfo Net.