The Désirée is a red-skinned main crop potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

 originally bred in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in 1962. It has yellow flesh with a distinctive flavour and is a favourite with allotment

Allotment (gardening)

An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...

-holders because of its resistance to drought, although it is not well suited to organic growing. It is a versatile, fairly waxy variety which is firm and holds its shape and useful for all methods of cooking; from roasting to mashing and salads.

Its recent popularity in the UK is attributed to TV chef Delia Smith

Delia Smith

Delia Smith CBE is an English cook and television presenter, known for teaching basic cookery skills. She is the UK's best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold....

.

• Habit: Medium height, later spreading
• Foliage: Medium to dark grey-green. Strong purple colour throughout plant.
• Stems numerous, purple.
• Leaf rigid, open, slightly arched.
• Leaflets oval, pointed.
• Secondaries few.
• Buds/Flowers: Buds large, red-purple on hairy stalks. Flowers red-violet fading to white.