There are LOTS of different varieties of potato grown in Maine so just saying a "Maine potato" is not narrowing down the choices much. I would want to know the recipe you intend to use it for before saying with certainty but many recipes for potatoes to be included as roasted or mashed or even cooked as chunks in other dishes will be a russet type. This is the classic 'baking' potato.

I use russets for mashed potatoes and for baking potatoes but prefer Yukon Gold for all other culinary uses.

I looked up a recipe in a cookbook by Madelaine Kamman, and she suggested Main potatoes. I simply wanted to know the texture of the potato so I would know what to use!

There is no single variety known as a "Maine" (not Main) potato, so assume she is just referring to where it originates from. And as alluded to by Dan, it really doesn't make any difference - Maine, Long Island, Idaho or any other potato growing area will produce similar spuds :-)

Again, I'd guess it is a russet potato being used - Burbank russets are the most widely grown commercial potato in the country. The flesh is white, dry and mealy and it makes an excellent mashed or baked potato and holds up well when cooking.

Thanks, you answered my question.

daninthedirt I like that, good handle for a gardener! And you are in Texas, long way from Toronto. I've been wearing down jacket and for several weeks a down coat. Now, snow melted and it's +5C and real sloppy outside. I can only imagine what's it like in zone 8a. Merry Christmas to you! Have you started planting yet?

I've been planting beets apace, and my peas went in two months ago. Collards and chard are taking over the place. I just harvested five huge Tahitian melon squashes a few weeks ago. Right before a brief freeze. Malabar spinach all came out as well. Greetings from the south. Maybe you can arrange to send a few cold fronts down here in the summer?

Yeah right, cold front, sure! How hot does it get there in the summer? I can just imagine everything growing like crazy! I suppose you can harvest fresh vegetables and greens pretty much throughout the year.

Tomatoes grow like crazy, but once the temp gets over 90F (and it does, pretty much, every day, from June-September), they don't fruit. My tomato season is all done in June. Kaput. To a lesser extent, peppers and eggplant behave similarly. But yes, you can harvest other things throughout the year. August and September tend to be our harvest down-time months here, though things get busy indoors then with winter seedlings, and winter squash are doing their stuff. To the extent there are summer greens (I know of very few that can handle our climate) harvests continue then.

It's interesting to read about gardening in different climates. I've grown roses for many years. I've read about some of the roses I've grown how well they grow in Ireland and Peru no less. Apparently much better then in Toronto. Surprising, isn't it. Something that may surprise you I can pick parsley in the winter and thyme, sage also. Not much else. Everything dead as door nail.

I know it's been a long time since I wrote this but on the subject of potatoes there is a Mennonite farmer who grows heirloom potatoes. He sells the potatoes at the farmers market on Saturdays, starting in September, sells flowers in the summer One that we like is called Mozart. Great flavor, good fried or cooked. Another one we also use is "Yukon Gold". I have been dealing with this farmer for maybe as long as 40 years. Wish there were more like him and his wife.