Purple skin and purple flesh. All rise for this stately spud, this magnificent murphy, this towering tuber, this pompous purple potato! To manufacture an ounce of the original royal purple, Phoenician dye-makers had to crack the shells of a quarter million tiny mollusks, extract the drops of mucous and expose it to sunlight for a precise amount of time—thus the substance was worth its weight in gold. This potato’s deep purple hues are easier to obtain, but its unusual appearance may still command a premium price at market. Starchy enough for baking or mashing but firm enough to hold its shape in potato salads. Uniform small- to medium-sized tubers. Limited life span in the root cellar: eat ’em up.