What it is
A red-skinned potato of the Vallo di Diano with yellow compact dry flesh valued for frying resistance.
Origin place card
Production is documented in the Vallo di Diano in Salerno province.
Verified history
The source says it has been cultivated in the mountain area for at least a century and had a major production boom after World War II. Treat this as source-supported tradition/history from Regione Campania — Patata rossa del Vallo di Diano; the current evidence does not independently establish a founder, precise origin date, first attestation, or archival origin beyond that source framing.
Local hypothesis
The food story is texture: a dry yellow flesh that can meet hot oil without surrendering.
Local legend / oral tradition
No legend documented.
Ingredients
Variable-sized red-granate skin potatoes with yellow compact dry flesh; smaller patanielli historically used for animal feed. Source-supported detail: il colore esterno della buccia è tendente al rosso-granato; la pasta è gialla, compatta e asciutta: reagisce alla frittura con maggiore resistenza, l'olio non penetra nella pasta.
Method
Sow tubers in May after frost risk, hoe and ridge without herbicide, harvest late August/early September, store in jute sacks in cool dark spaces. Source-supported detail: Descrizione delle metodiche di lavorazione, condizionamento, stagionatura La coltivazione inizia nel mese di maggio (semina dei tuberi), quando sono definitivamente fugate le possibilità di gelate tardive, e si chiude con la raccolta a fine agosto inizio settembre.
Ritual / calendar
la buccia è liscia con poche rugosità e piuttosto sottile.
Why travel for it
A red-skinned valley potato page: compact yellow flesh that resists frying, mountain soils, jute sacks and a postwar production boom.
Recreate-it pathway
Recover a fried version and local potato sides before final recipe publication.
Editorial warning
The source has one internal date inconsistency in planting/readiness wording; represent the safer full cultivation cycle.
Fieldwork questions
Who still selects the red type? Which fried preparations show its oil resistance best?
Photo brief
Red Vallo di Diano potatoes, frying pan, jute sacks in cool room.