…… Ideas for preserving potatoes?

[Pinecone]

So, you may have read on the Tomato Shortage thread on Main that the voles are munching their way through my potato crop and they had to be harvested a month early or lose them. It's going to be in the 90's the next week or so. Our water table is too high in winter to keep a root cellar, so I never dug one.

I'll harden off the potatoes, and keep the good ones as best I can, but the damaged ones (and there are lots of them) will have to be preserved. I'm interested in your experiences of how to preserve them.

I have limited freezer space, but would like to make french fries (oven fries) out of some of them. I can't use dairy, except butter, for frozen mashed potatoes so not sure if that will work.

I partially cooked and then dehydrated a potato yesterday and it didn't turn black. YEAH! So I'll dehydrate some.

Any suggestions? Experiences good or bad?

Thanks everyone!

 

[moldy]

First, what kind of potatoes? I've had better luck with reds and Yukon golds than russet. I prefer them canned. I either cut them into fries or dice into larger pieces after peeling them, then can. They will start to turn brown, so cut them into a bowl of salted water. I have also freeze dried them, but Don't really like the texture after they rehydrate.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I'm thinking of ordering a 50lb sack of russet potatoes, but we don't have a good way to store them. We eat a lot of oven fries, so I'd like to cut up lots of them for the freezer. Don't you have to precook them first?

 

[Pinecone]

First, what kind of potatoes? I've had better luck with reds and Yukon golds than russet. I prefer them canned. I either cut them into fries or dice into larger pieces after peeling them, then can. They will start to turn brown, so cut them into a bowl of salted water. I have also freeze dried them, but Don't really like the texture after they rehydrate.

Russets, which didn't do really well, reds and some thin skinned white potato which did really well. I can't find what variety they are. I hope I figure it out for next year!

 

[Buick Electra]

bump

 

[moldy]

I'm thinking of ordering a 50lb sack of russet potatoes, but we don't have a good way to store them. We eat a lot of oven fries, so I'd like to cut up lots of them for the freezer. Don't you have to precook them first?

Yes. If you don't precooked them before freezing, they will turn gray or black.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Yes. If you don't precooked them before freezing, they will turn gray or black.

How do you precook them? Prebake them for a bit?

 

[moldy]

No, not just blanching. You need to pre-bake, boil, or fry them.

I don't know that the color change hurts them any, but they are pretty unappetizing!

 

[WalknTrot]

I like to can them. Just be sure to follow the timing to the letter so they don't get too soft. Canned potatoes make the BEST pan-fries w/onions in the world.

 

[summerthyme]

How do you precook them? Prebake them for a bit?

Just cook like you normally would for oven fries, but just until they are pale golden (same goes for freezing French fries... fry them until pale gold). Then finish cooking them in the oven or deep fryer, just as you would store-bought frozen fries.

(To freeze, spread them on cookie sheets until frozen, then put into freezer bags... youncan cook as m7ch or little as you want)

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Just cook like you normally would for oven fries, but just until they are pale golden (same goes for freezing French fries... fry them until pale gold). Then finish cooking them in the oven or deep fryer, just as you would store-bought frozen fries.

(To freeze, spread them on cookie sheets until frozen, then put into freezer bags... youncan cook as m7ch or little as you want)

Summerthyme

Thanks so much, Summerthyme! I have plenty of dehydrated and canned potatoes, but would love to have some oven fries ready in the freezer, too.

 

[Barb]

You can can french fries but they have to be deep fat fried when you get ready to fix them. Rinse, drain, dry as much as you can and fry.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Here is a year round preservation technique for potatoes from late 1700's from a source located by JS Townsends and sons. The account was found in a letter and starts at the 4:57 mark. The video has a recipe that of course includes nutmeg.

Dig potatoes after Michaelmas (September 28 give or take). Dig pits, put potatoes in pit, cover with straw and heap horse manure on top of that and then cover with sod. According to the account potatoes will keep all year.

My mother told me a similar story of a farmer keeping cabbage: dig a trench, stuff cabbage in burlap sacks, put sacks in the trench, straw may have been used to insulate and cover with dirt. This was probably back when houses has cold cellars and real ice boxes.

The Origins of Comfort Food​

Townsends

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCiDqfbzsws

run time 8:49

 

[h_oder]

I've recently seen some youtube's about "dry canning" potatoes - you chop, then soak/rinse the taters several times to remove starch. Once that's done, coat with some butter & seasonings (or not), and then raw pack into jars and pressure can.

I've been thinking about trying a small batch to see how they end up.

***Disclaimer: This is considered "rebel canning" and is not an approved method. I am not endorsing it as such***

ETA - RT 22 min

View: https://youtu.be/8HhHCAyYOZc

 

[kyrsyan]

I didn't like canned potatoes. If we were still eating them, I'd consider a small batch of baby potatoes for putting in stews.

I did like slicing them, seasoning them, and then bagging them up to cook as French fries. That worked well for us. And I have mandolins that would let me do a variety of slices easily.

 

[h_oder]

I don't really like canned potatoes much either - too mushy - the dry canned version supposedly cuts down on the mush.