TETON RUSSET JOINS THE POTATO VARIETIES USED IN NORTH AMERICAN MCDONALD’S FRIES.

TETON RUSSET JOINS THE POTATO VARIETIES USED IN NORTH AMERICAN MCDONALD’S FRIES.

Teton Russet will be the ninth potato variety approved for use in McDonald’s fries in North America. This variety is born from a fourteen-year research cooperative breeding program comprised of the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), Washington State University (WSU), University of Idaho (UI), and Oregon State University (OSU). The Washington State Potato Commission partners with the Potato Commissions in Oregon and Idaho to jointly fund this type of new variety development work.

In 2000, USDA ARS cross bred the Blazer Russet and the Classic Russet to create the Teton. The name of this light-colored variety was selected in a field at the UI Tetonia Research and Extension Center near the Teton Mountains. Its tubers are oblong with moderate russet, shallow eyes, and good skin. In addition, the Teton is resistant to dry rot and has a consistent specific gravity of 1.082. During the 2009 Potato Cultivar Evaluations, the WSU Potato Research Group noted the Teton variety for both fresh market and processing.

The Teton Varieties light coloring and consistent quality met the standards in place by McDonalds. It held USDA 1-2 fry color values over the course of nine months, had lower incidence of sugar ends than the Russet Burbank, and its mean percent weight loss of 5.1% after nine months in storage was equivalent to the Russet Burbank.