Jeff Ishee, Columnist
News Leader reader Janet L. writes with the following dilemma: “My potato harvest is coming in — Red Pontiacs the size of softballs, with a few — not many — smaller specimens. The questions are: 1) how should these giants be treated after they come out of the soil? and 2) How should they be stored? I don’t have a root cellar but do have a cavernous basement that has a fairly steady cold-weather temperature in the 50s. In what kind of container should the potatoes be put?”
Great questions Janet! Let’s talk about the basic of storing spuds.
•All potatoes are living organisms. If exposed to warm temperatures, they will grow. If sealed in an airtight plastic container, they will suffocate and rot. If kept too cold they will freeze. And if exposed to too much light, they will green up and sprout. A potato’s mission in life is to sprout and reproduce. Your mission is to prevent that from happening.
•New potatoes (Red Pontiac, etc.) should ideally be dug when tubers are the size of golf balls or perhaps tennis balls. But softball-sized spuds are good also if quartered before cooking. Red potatoes should be used within a few weeks as generally they do not store as well as white potatoes (Kennebec, Russet, etc.).
•When harvesting, examine closely and sort out any bruised, cut or damaged spuds to use first. Never wash potatoes before storing. Don’t worry if a bit of dry topsoil adheres to the skin — it won’t hurt a thing. Only wash potatoes immediately before using.
•Before placing potatoes in storage, cure them at about 55°F for 10 days. A shady porch is good for this. The curing process allows small cuts and bruises to heal while the skin thickens.
•Store in a cool, dry area, away from light. Temperatures warmer than 45°F encourage sprouting after just a couple of months; colder than 40°F encourages transformation of starch to sugar, which changes the taste and cooking properties. Storage in direct light can produce greening (production of chlorophyll) which gives a bitter flavor.
•Potatoes need adequate air circulation, so don’t pile them up more than 18 inches high. Old apple crates lined with hardware cloth make great potato bins. I’ve also used burlap bags raised a foot or so off the cellar floor. An old clothes basket will do in a pinch.
Jeff Ishee has written more than 700 garden columns for the News Leader. Contact him at jeff@onthefarmradio.com