Specialty Potato Alliance

To Jill Overdorf of the Specialty Potato Alliance (SPA), fingerlings are the most flavorful potatoes. Ever. “Imagine the richest, most buttery flavor and multiply that by five times,” she urges. A professionally trained chef, this potato proponent has seen fingerlings rise in popularity with home cooks since European chefs introduced them in New York City restaurants ten years ago. And seeded a national hunger for a flavorful gourmet variation of the humble spud.

Sensing a healthy market surging forth, SPA was formed in 2007 by some American farmers to set standards for growing, marketing and distributing heirloom potatoes such as fingerlings. Today, SPA sells across the nation (except Alaska and Hawaii). In the process American farmers show they, too, can best their European counterparts with gourmet tubers.

SPA partners with two family farms—Rocky Farms LLC in Colorado’s San Luis Valley and Lehr Brothers in Bakersfield, California—who produce the bulk of fingerlings shipped. Suppliers from Idaho, Wisconsin, the Dakotas and Nebraska make this a year-round offering for consumers.

As food historians point out, the potato migrated north and around the world from South America. Totally sustainable and cultivable anywhere, potatoes are nutritious staples. Jill loves fingerlings for their “immediate portion-size.” From one and a-half to two inches in diameter, and one and one-quarter to four inches long, two fingerlings yield about 120 calories.

The best way to prepare fingerlings is to keep it simple, Jill advises. For busy families, this is a boon. All it takes are 20 minutes to prepare, cook and enjoy these gourmet spuds. Jill puts hers in cold water with non-iodized salt (which allows the flavor to pop), brings them to a boil and they are cooked. Voila! for soft, moist forkfuls of creamy texture.

Jill gets her guests licking their chops by serving seared duck breast with asparagus and fingerlings. Just be sure to crisp the duck skin first, then finish roasting in the oven with the veggies, olive oil and non-iodized salt. Throw in extra fingerlings; leftovers are great to turn into hash browns for breakfast.

Other creative suggestions from this chef appear alongside many fingerling items on this site. Jill offers, “You can do anything with them and they’ll always enhance your meal!”