Gu Yang Potatoes

Gu Yang Potatoes

　　Gu Yang has three treasures: potatoes, oat noodles, and big coats. Locals call potatoes "mountain yams," and apart from intellectuals who refer to them as "potatoes," the locals don’t agree with that term, probably finding it too formal. Gu Yang’s mountain yams are famous far and wide—not only are they uniformly sized and delicious, but there are also many varieties, including white-skinned, purple-skinned, and yellow-skinned. White-skinned ones are crisp when stir-fried, purple-skinned ones are soft and crumbly when stewed, and yellow-skinned ones are tender and sweet when sautéed. Back then, potatoes weren’t fertilized with chemicals, pesticides were rarely used, and plastic mulch didn’t exist at all. Around the time of the Clear and Bright festival, if there was a good soaking rain, there was no need to worry— a bountiful harvest was already a sure thing. In those days, the new potatoes that appeared in the market in early summer were either from the suburbs or transported from elsewhere, whereas Gu Yang’s potatoes, due to their long hours of sunlight and late maturation period, were harvested only around the Bailu solar term. Although they weren’t as plump and large as the potatoes you see in markets today, their texture and flavor far surpassed those “scientifically” cultivated potatoes.