potatoes :)

I'm glad you're enjoying my research, Nonna! Most of my students never did!

Here's more!

Analysis of Red and Norkotah potatoes revealed that these spuds’ phenolic content rivals that of broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts, and includes flavonoids with protective activity against cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems and certain cancers.

UK scientists at the Institute for Food Research have identified blood pressure-lowering compounds called kukoamines in potatoes.

(is their middle name 'snake oil'?)

Now this next part never occurred to me till I read it and said 'aha!' (actually I didn't say 'aha!' but the effect was the same) as I remembered many times getting annoyed when the potato I just boiled disintegrated in the water....!

Ready for it?

For all practical purposes, potatoes fall into two easy categories – baking potatoes and boiling potatoes. There’s also a middle ground, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Probably the chief difference between the two types is the amount and nature of starch each contains. Baking potatoes are relatively high in starch and it is called amylose starch. Boiling potatoes are low in starch and it is called amylopectin. This pectin (just as with fruit for jams) is what holds the potato together when boiling or in soup and stews.
Baking potatoes
These are also called starchy potatoes. They tend to be long and have a coarse, cork-like skin. They are high in starch, with a dry, mealy texture. But, they turn light and fluffy when cooked.
They are ideal for baking, mashing and French fries. They are light and fluffy baked, light and creamy mashed, and frankly, the only potato worth frying.
Some of the names you’ll see them under in the supermarket are Russet Burbank, Russet Arcadia, Norgold Russet, Goldrush, Norkotah, Long White (or White Rose or California Long White), and Idaho.

Boiling potatoes
These are also called waxy potatoes. They come in a variety of shapes and can be long or round. They have a thin, smooth skin and an almost waxy flesh. They are relatively high in moisture and sugar, but low in starch.
They are ideal for soups, casseroles, potato salad, roasting, and barbecuing because of their tendency to hold their shape. You can mash them, but instead of smooth and creamy, the results tend to be thick and lumpy.
You will find them sold as Round White, Round Red, Yellow Potato, Red Potato, Salad Potato, La Soda, Red La Rouge, Red Pontiac, Red Nordland, Red Bliss, Yellow Finnish, Ruby Crescent, and Australian Crescent.
Now, there are some potatoes that fall in the middle, in the "all-purpose" category, such as the Yukon Gold, Peruvian Blue, Superior, Kennebec, and Katahdin. They are moister than baking potatoes and will hold together in boiling water. They are particularly well-suited to roasting, pan frying, and using in soups, stews, and gratins. They can be baked, mashed, and fried, but will not produce the same results as the bakers.
And finally, as you must know by now, a new potato is just that – an immature, small potato of whatever variety. Red potatoes may be the type most often sold, but that does not mean that a red potato is a new potato or that a new potato is a red potato.

I will never look at a potato the same way again.

I read an article several months ago about the president of a potato growers association. He was tired of the bad rap that potatoes get every time a new diet comes out. He got himself a physical and then went on a 2 month diet of nothing but potatoes. 3 meals a day plus snacks consisting of nothing but potatoes. He got so bored and desperate he even made potato gravy to put on his mashed potatoes!

At the end of two months, another physical determined that he was still healthy, not to mention that he lost 17 pounds!

If you haven't eaten a homegrown potato, you probably don't know how good a potato can be. Commercial potatoes are often stored for up to 6-8 months before going to market. Our favorites are Yellow Finns. We boil them for a few minutes and eat. No seasonings or toppings necessary. They have a natural buttery flavor that doesn't need any help.

NHGardener wrote:I will never look at a potato the same way again.

Hmmm - waxy? starchy? boiling? baking? Hundreds of varieties and 6000 years of history? TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!! HAHAHAHA! The world was an easier place when the potato... was only... a POTATO!

(But isn't it so much more interesting now?)

BTW, the world’s largest potato weighed in at 18 pounds, 4 ounces according to the Guinness Book of World Records. That’s enough for 73 portions of medium fries at McDonalds. That's THREE newborn humans!!!

Kelejan wrote:I am trying to find a recent thread that has instructions for making pot bags from leftover weedcloth, but there seems to be so many entries about potatoes that I haven't found the thread yet.

Already I have been through the three recent potatoe threads but maybe the information I am seeking is buried in another topic thread?

A little help will be appreciated. Is there an easy way to find a particular topic?

Kelejan :scratch:

I think you might be thinking of mine:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t5898-2011-garden-off-to-a-good-start

They are really working out great. I had them rolled down real low at first, and as I add MM/straw, I unroll the bag. Definitely double up the fabric and overlap and reinforce the seams though. I had one rip from constantly moving it already-the others are holding up but the potatoes are getting bigger and heavier in there!

Great info btw Oxmyx!!

That's the one Glendale-gardener. I wanted the measurements etc., so tomorrow I will be making four of them but leaving the bottoms open as I want to pop them over some large pots where the poatoes are growing vigorously, then after I have harvest my pots I will sew up the bottoms ready for next year.

I spent nearly two hours reading all the latest thread and realized I must have gone way past the one I was looking for. I have now made a note of it so hopefully will not have to ask again.

Cheers!

Kelejan

Yeaaaah! Believe it or not, I have been frantically searching the last couple of days for the potato bag directions, too! Small world, huh? I never would have thought to check under 2011-garden-off-to-a-good-start! I couldn't believe it when I read this in this thread!

I'm certainly not much of a seamstress, but hope to try making some of these when I'm ready to try potatoes.

Thanks for posting this, Glendale-gardener.

You know, sherryeo, in a very short while I have found out on this website that one has only to pose a question and there is someone there to answer it.

Also I have found not to be afraid to ask, even if it has been asked dozens of times, everyone is only so happy to help if they can. I do try to search first though so as not to get too lazy. Glad you also appreciated the answer from Glendale-gardener.

Boffer, if it were not for the potato my ancestors would have starved during the English occupation of Ireland. They were the only thing that grew well in the poor soil the English let them farm, as they kept the fertile land for themselves. Now they are trying to say they are bad for us.
Oxmyx you are a wealth of spud knowlage. Space spuds, who knew?
Can any of you suggest a source of certified disease free seed potatoes? After reading all your interesting posts I must grow at least one bag.

This is a downright potato revolution going on in this thread.

Now we need about a million recipes so that the potato can, once again, become a staple of our diets.

Is June 9th too late to plant more?

Sweet thread...I'm psyched that I decided to try potatoes this year! Since I started cutting out the meat, baked potatoes have become a staple of my diet, at least. I'm told that Yukon Golds are great for baking so I'm hoping that I'm in for a pleasant surprise after eating store-bought russets for the past year or so! Although I may have some of those as well, as I have some foot-tall potato plants growing out of my compost pile that I couldn't bring myself to pull out!

Sounds like you guys got the nutritious aspects of potatoes down, but I just thought I'd add that my wife's uncle, who is a family doctor and very serious about nutrition, said he read a study or something that estimated that you could eat only potatoes for as long as 7 years and remain healthy, they have such a wide array of nutrition.

NHGardener wrote:Now we need about a million recipes so that the potato can, once again, become a staple of our diets.

Is June 9th too late to plant more?

Good idea

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t7820-potato-recipes#71113

My guess is that you'll get some small potatoes, but they won't have enough time to grow big.

boffer wrote:https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t7820-potato-recipes#71113

My MIL bakes them like this. You can also use sweet potatoes the same way.

Guess I'll wait till next year to increase the potato crops.

NHGardener wrote:snip.....Now we need about a million recipes so that the potato can, once again, become a staple of our diets....

Ok, come fall when they are abundant I will look at a recipe but today I'm keeping it simple.


Kept it simple for too long. They got a little dark but practice makes perfect (and there were no leftovers)

NHGardener wrote:This is a downright potato revolution going on in this thread.

Now we need about a million recipes so that the potato can, once again, become a staple of our diets.

Is June 9th too late to plant more?

You could plant in August and bring them under cover to protect them from frost like we do here maybe. I'm going to do that this year for new potatoes at Christmas watching Dr Who. I'd go for it and see what you get. Cost of a potato is so little but the taste of your own mmm priceless.

Lavender Debs wrote:today I'm keeping it simple.

YUM!

I have spud sprouts!

Barkie wrote: I'm going to do that this year for new potatoes at Christmas watching Dr Who.

High five for Dr. Who fans!

Lavender Debs wrote:

NHGardener wrote:snip.....Now we need about a million recipes so that the potato can, once again, become a staple of our diets....

Ok, come fall when they are abundant I will look at a recipe but today I'm keeping it simple.


Kept it simple for too long. They got a little dark but practice makes perfect (and there were no leftovers)

I've been enjoying lurking on this thread. We planted some Yukon Gold potatoes after finding them sprouting healthily in my pantry a couple of months back. I had been wondering if it's all been a waste of time since they weren't "certified seed potatoes". Then I've also been annoyed because hubby just dug a big pit in the yard in order to plant them, leaving a huge pile of dirt next to said pit. The kids, of course, can't resist climbing on the pile and as a result sometimes fall into the pit. Bad enough, but the pit and pile are also located where I want my new square foot beds to go. So I've been secretely kind of hoping the potato plants would die. (I promised them I'd plant potatoes again next year in my nice new beds.)

Well, yesterday I went out and three of the plants were dead. I was so excited! I had an excuse to dig them up and see if they were even doing anything! Look what I found:



Such adorable little baby taters! My first garden harvest! Tonight I washed them and sliced them up and cooked them in the skillet with some olive oil and spices:



They were so good! I shared them with my girls and they both bemoaned the fact that there weren't more. Now I feel bad that the plants died and I kinda wonder why. (I think they just needed to be watered.) Anyway, just wanted to share my potato news with the potato lovers on this thread. Hello to all of you! I'm new here.

Welcome GW!

those baby taters look soooo good!
congrats on your harvest and welcome to the PNW group and SFG forum!

i was a lurker for over a year before i joined.....this is a great group of gardeners and i wish i had joined sooner .....this is my second year gardening

hugs
rose who should be in bed....cause her son wants to go fishing in the morning

Hi Gwen, welcome!

Rofl those are the smallest potatoes I've ever seen, that's pretty awesome! I also have a couple potato plants growing from store-bought potatoes; they came up in my compost pile from old potatoes I threw in there and I didn't have the heart to pull them out! I actually bought and planted Yukon Gold seed potatoes...no offense, but I hope my harvest comes out larger than yours.

quick pic on how the taters are doing

how is everyone elses?

garbage can potatoes


one of my wine barrel potatoes


hugs
rose who can not wait to take a peak inside those tater containers

I was asked by HieronRemade to delete their post with the broken pics and the posts afterward so they could repost pics that worked. In the process I got an itchy delete finger and I accidentally deleted the original post on this thread. I am so sorry!

FamilyGardening could you just kinda restate what your original question was for any later readers of this great thread?

I am sorry guys.

Jen

Sorry for the trouble guys...Anyway, my original post w/ working pics -

FamilyGardening wrote:how is everyone elses?

Mine seem to be doing great!

The pictures are my Yukon Golds, Beauregard Sweet Potatoes, and the store-bought russet potatoes growing out of my compost pile.

How many plants are in your trash cans Rose, and how old are they? They look so much more lush and full than my sky-scraperish Yukon Golds.