After long journeys in the holds of ships, the potatoes that arrived in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century faced, like any foreign product, suspicion and rejection.
The tuber with its uninviting appearance gradually became part of the diet only in the eighteenth century.
For alpine communities, it became providential food and a cultural symbol.
In particular for the Walser, a people originally from Upper Valais who also colonized the Val d'Ossola and the Val Formazza. But what does it really mean to cultivate in the mountains? A question that can only be answered by those who live daily in these areas, where beauty and harshness intertwine.
An example comes from Dionisio Imboden and Dario Piumarta, producers of the Walser Potato Consortium of Formazza, which has been preserving three local varieties for years: Formazza, Walser, and Occhi Rossi. It all began in 2011, when agronomist Giovanni Guarda accidentally tasted a plate of gnocchi in Val Formazza. He wanted to discover the origin of those tubers and found Mrs. Anna Della Ferrera, who had been preserving small specimens for generations, even though they were now weakened by viruses. With the help of Dr. Luisa Andrenelli from the University of Florence, he then began a painstaking job: to sanitize the potatoes in the laboratory and return virus-free seeds to the valley. In this way, tradition was able to be reborn, transforming into the future.
Today, however, cultivating in the mountains means facing new challenges. Diseases such as downy mildew, Colorado potato beetle, Japanese beetle, and scab also affect crops at 1500 meters above sea level. Yields are decreasing, the available land is limited and in conflict with pastures and haymaking, while farmers refuse chemical treatments that would compromise soil fertility. In the past, out of necessity, many families replaced ancient varieties with more profitable ones like Desirée or Kennebec.
Today, however, the guardians choose the walser potatoes to preserve a history.
Cultivating ancient varieties does not mean profit, but safeguarding identity and biodiversity. The work continues thanks to the Fobelli Agricultural Institute in Crodo, which is focused on the micropropagation of healthy seedlings. Three years of laboratory work are required to ensure optimal tubers: without this support, agricultural memory would risk fading away. From a sensory standpoint, the three varieties tell unique flavors: the Formazza, red with yellow flesh, ideal for gnocchi; the Walser, white with semi-yellow flesh, perfect boiled; and the Occhi Rossi, with red skin, suitable for frying. Sowing and harvesting are still done by hand, with fields fertilized with manure and alternated with rye and buckwheat. In addition to these varieties, Piumarta has also added potatoes from other alpine and Swiss communities: the Lautebrunnen, the Frühe Prättigauer, the Safier, the Fläker, the Cerisa, the Blu di San Gallo, and the more recent Rote Emmalie, with bright red flesh.
Every tuber is a fragment of landscape, an agricultural story that resists globalization.
Tasting these potatoes means understanding that nature does not know monotony. Even their visual "strangeness" is an invitation to overcome prejudices: because even a potato has the right to tell its story.
