The Matchcover Storyteller

Potatoes  —  You boil them and bake them; you scallop them and French fry them.  They’re Idahos, Russets, Yukon Golds, Whites, Yellows and a bunch you may never have heard of.   Some call them “nature’s perfect food (I always thought that was pizza, but…..)  And then you come across that one that has escaped all of your recipe browsing  —   The Red McClure Potato.

There are a couple of front-strike matchcovers for this American food staple, a Lion 20-strike and a Lion Feature.  If there are more, I’d appreciate knowing.  Farm/Agriculture seems the likeliest collecting category, but there may be sub-categories for these excellent brandings of vegetables and fruits from days gone by.  Remember all the gloriously colored labels?  You could make some interesting combos.

It’s the potato that’s red.  The McClure is Thomas; an Irish immigrant who found himself doing some gold and silver prospecting in Colorado.  He did a few other things before settling in the Carbondale area where, like a lot of his neighbors, he raised potatoes.

McClure was also a practitioner of early genetic engineering and slowly, his red, fist-sized, not-pretty potatoes became a prolific cash crop.  At one time in the early 20th century, Carbondale and the San Luis Valley of Colorado produced more potatoes than the entire state of Idaho, shipping something like 400 railcars full in the 1930s!

“The Roaring Fork and Crystal River Valley section of Colorado is as nearly perfect in soil conditions as can be found, and the potatoes grown there are not excelled anywhere in the world, and are equaled in but few places.”

—  E.H. Grubb & W.S. Guilford, “The Potato,” 1912

The Red McClure is ugly.  Its very deep eyes mean it doesn’t peel all that well.  And by 1940, with what was called “the potato plunge”, it was almost extinct.  By 1947, no one could find them  —   but they were there.

Starting early in this 21st century, an organization called the Slow Food Foundation has been working to bring back the Red McClure.  It’s not a gourmet potato; I’ve never had it, but they say it’s a good cooking and tasting potato and it is one of those original and increasingly rare heritage varieties the world is rightly seeking to preserve and redevelop.

For now, all I can do is start with a matchcover and go from there!  If you’re a member in central Colorado, find some Red McClure’s and tell us how they are!