Good morning, as a horny handed son of the sod I like to experiment. This year I have tried to re-create two areas of soil for Potatoes and Toms.
In Europe as you now food from certain regions are protected by law.
The famous Jersey Royal new potato is in fact the International Kidney, I grew them last year and although they were good they neither had the shape or flavor of the Jersey Royal. The J/R is grown on the south facing slopes next to the sea and mulched and fed with seaweed, so last summer we collected seaweed washed it and composted it with grass cuttings. I then dumped it in south facing cold frame and planted the International Kidneys, I will also starve them of water (this is the clue to San Marzipano) using the glass covers to recreate the slope and soil Lanzarote
Lanzarote is a volcanic island with little rain, the soil is poor and the King Edward pots they grow there are also very small but they have an intense flavor. I had to burn a lot of old conifers and the branches of 4 fruit trees that we cut down, so we had huge bonfire in the bottom paddock, this sterilised the soil and killed the grass.I then used my Merry Tiller to work the huge amount of ash into the soil and about 7 weeks ago I planted it with King Edwards, and three weeks ago I added some Roma's, the Roma's are about a third smaller than the toms I planted in the "normal" soil in the main veg plots.
Commercial growers of toms in Holland grow them in huge hydroponic greenhouses, they grow quickly are full of water and have no flavor, Toms turn red not because of the sun but because of ethylene gas so they are picked unripe for transportation the hit with ethylene gas in a dark local distribution warehouse.
The structure, drainage and climate, not the minerals in the soil is responsible for unique.
Ps my normal compost is made the Bob Flowerdew ( famous UK gardener) way, I pee on it, this increases the nitrogen content and aids the organic break down