Coming to your dinner plate soon is the new hybrid
AR2016-07.
It sounds like some futuristic food pill served in Earth’s
orbit aboard the International Space Station. But it isn’t. AR2016-07 is a new
product from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the federal government’s
research and regulatory body involved in this country’s farming and food
industries.
AR2016-07 is a lowly tuber, a potato. What makes this particular
potato special is its color. It’s pink. Yes, a pink potato.
As anyone who loves cooking can attest, dressing up the
usual white or yellowish potato to create a stunning presentation does not lend
itself to many possibilities. That is why spuds are buried in sauces, covered
with parsley sprigs, and otherwise camouflaged.
But now, with a pink potato, or its sister hybrid, the
AR2016-11 purple potato, or any of the 16 new hybrid potatoes announced by
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, chefs and homemakers alike will have a
colorful bouquet of spuds to arrange in any floral display of rainbow-ism that
will have diners ooh-ing and aah-ing with their eyes long before their first
nibble.
