Agria vs Moonlight Potatoes: Which Should Your Kitchen Order?

Agria and Moonlight are the two potato varieties we supply most to Auckland and Hamilton kitchens, and they do very different jobs. Getting the choice right is the difference between a crisp golden chip and a limp one, or a potato salad that holds together versus one that turns to mush.

Agria: the floury all-rounder

Agria is New Zealand's most widely grown potato and the default in most commercial kitchens. It has yellow flesh, a high dry-matter content and a floury texture. That dryness is what makes it fry so well — less water means a crisper shell and a fluffier centre — and mash so smoothly without going gluey.

Use Agria for

• Hand-cut chips, fries and wedges
• Roast potatoes
• Mash, purée and duchesse
• Gnocchi, rösti and hash browns
• Baked and jacket potatoes

Moonlight: the waxy workhorse

Moonlight is a smooth-skinned, oval potato with pale yellow flesh and a waxy, firmer texture. It holds its shape through boiling and steaming, so slices and dice stay intact. It is less suited to frying — the higher moisture gives a paler, softer chip.

Use Moonlight for

• Potato salad and niçoise
• Boiled and steamed sides
• Gratins, dauphinoise and layered bakes
• Casseroles, stews and curries
• Skin-on wedges where you want a firmer bite

Which pack size?

We pack Agria in 5kg, 10kg and 20kg, Moonlight in 10kg, and Moonlight Large in 20kg cases graded for fast peeling. As a rough guide: a cafe doing breakfast hash and a lunch salad usually takes a 10kg Agria and a 10kg Moonlight each week. A restaurant with chips on the menu will run through 20kg Agria cases, often several a week. If you're peeling by hand at volume, Moonlight Large saves real prep time — bigger tubers, fewer of them.

Storing potatoes in a commercial kitchen

Both varieties want the same thing: cool (7–10°C), dark and dry, with airflow around the bag. Never store potatoes in the walk-in chiller — cold converts starch to sugar, which makes chips brown too fast and taste faintly sweet. Keep them out of light to prevent greening, and away from onions, which release moisture.