Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

I absolutely love potatoes. I don't think I could survive without them. They taste great and have a good variety of vitamins and minerals. What is the best subspecie of potato for nutritional purposes and preservation?

Redskin cost the most, but that might not be due to their nutritional value.

I guess you could can them, right? How long and by what means can you store fresh potatoes?

Aren't potatoes pretty maintenance free in a garden?

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

Lets See, there is blight, potatoe bugs,nemotodes, grubs, deer; and of coarse makeing sure they get enough water


If you can them, do it almost as long as you do meats; an hour at 10psi for pints and 75 minutes at 10psi for quarts

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

yams and sweet potatos have the highest nutritional value of all, and to me they taste the best by far :) have you ever had sweet potato fries? YUM

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

Wow I got to try that.........I would have never thought that one!! Thanx




T

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

There are hundreds of varieties of potato. In general, reds are poor keepers. Some round whites are good keepers, some are not. In general, russets are excellent keepers. So are Yukon Golds.

Store potatoes in a cool, dark place, around 35-40 F. Humid, but not damp.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

For those of you who are diabetic, I have heard that a reasonable substitute for mashed potatoes is mashed Jerusalem Artichoke, which has a much lower Glycemic Index. And they're easier to grow--in fact, they're almost impossible not to grow, and should to be isolated in pots to ovoid overrunning everything else in the garden.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

I tried canning potatos and it makes them taste funny. Like mildew or a damp cellar. Dehydrated potatoes are better IMO.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

We grow mostly Kennebec white potatoes here. They keep well, I have several bags in the garage still from this past year, though they are starting to sprout a lot.....which is OK....not long until they need to go back in the ground.

If you store potatoes in a roof cellar, just make sure you don't store apples there as well......gas given off by apples causes root crops like potatoes and carrots to really sprout.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

There are particular species of potato tuned to the soil and climate. I don't know which they are, but an "Idaho" is not a "Kennebec" for instance.

You'd have to be crazy to waste heat and space canning tatties, jmho, when the whole point of them is to bury in the root cellar which has the most space and takes the least energy. They keep all year in storage.

Don't forget to properly cure them before storage.

Jeru, or Sunroot, like potatoes, you don't want to eat green. I don't know if it's deadly like the green in potatoes (harms liver) but you should wait until freeze when the green goes away and gives better flavor.

Sorry, don't have any varieties that are round and easy to clean. They look a lot like ginger roots, but are very tasty. Fry them if you're first trial, sometimes they are available at health-food stores.

Answer to Title: "it depends" and "get a book" on potato curing and root cellars.

TS

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

"You'd have to be crazy to waste heat and space canning tatties, jmho, when the whole point of them is to bury in the root cellar which has the most space and takes the least energy. They keep all year in storage."


I'd agree.....never canned them before, other what gets put our canned beef stew. They keep too easy without the effort of canning.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

Just reminded me of a song my mother used to sing while she was peeling the "praties". Kind of appropriate too, with the chorus about digging gold instead of potato.
Haven't thought of the tune in 20 years.
Growing up with an Ireland-born grandmother living with us, we had potatos just about every night.
I don't eat them as much any more but I think I may try some potatos this year in the garden.

"Goodbye Mrs. Durkin, I'm sick and tired of workin'.
No more I'll dig your praties, no longer I'll be poor.
As sure as my name is Barney, I'm off to Califarny.
Instead of digging praties, I'll be digging lumps of gold."

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

The wife says the reds make the best tasting mashed potatoes, and hold together best in soup or stew, but the whites are the fluffiest bakers. For fries, each have advantages, it is just which you prefer. We prefer whites for french fries and reds for home fries.

Of course the reds not keeping long is an additional factor.

Re: Best Subspecie of Potato- Best Way to Preserve
 

I still have some Yukon Golds in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator left over from last fall. They're keeping nicely. Too bad I don't have a root cellar though. The Yukon Golds have a beautiful yellow color that gives tremendous eye-appeal to anything you do with them. Mashed, they look buttery even without adding anything but milk. Taste good too. Yum.