Storing whole potatoes - thoughts?

[MountainGirl]

Less than a half mile away from us, our neighbor grows about 100 acres of produce: beans, potatoes, corn, peppers, berries...ALL kinds of things. They have a stand by the road to sell to locals. They have some of the best red potatoes I've ever had - and I HAVE to find a way to put some up for us for year round consumption.

Is there a way to 'keep' whole spuds? Outside seems out of the question in this East Texas heat/humidity - but I'll dedicate some indoor space in the prep room for this IF I can learn of a way to do it... i.e.. covered box? moist burlap maybe on top to keep them from shriveling? Is it stupid to try this?

IF I can't find a way to store whole potatoes - what, in your opinion, is the best way to preserve them?
I'm thinking maybe canning in chunks - or maybe even frozen in chunks - or ??
I'd like to hear your thoughts about all this first.

Thanks a bunch, all ideas welcome.

[BucketBack]

We have some stored in the bomb shelter, which needs a bit of a D & C.

[Mad Trapper]

Root cellar. Not sure how well they work down south?

I replanted left overs from last year, they were still edible this May, just starting to put out sprouts from the eyes. I've got ~100 plants 50:50 reds and whites in garden now.

My root cellar is in an 1800s farmhouse with dirt floor. It is insulated off from rest of cellar so it can be kept cold, either opening the single window, or just keeping things isolated from any heat from furnace during cold spells. The cooler the better. You can store other stuff too: beets, carrots, turnips/rutabega, cabbages........

Make sure it's vermin proof, and/or put out traps . I use the 5-gal buckets with ~ 5" of water, and a baited (peanut butter w/sunflower seeds) plastic bottle on a spindle. I have two of these traps in the cellar and in the barns all year.

19094

[Dwight55]

White potatoes do pretty well in a root cellar . . . keep temp above freezing . . .

Humidity is what it is . . . my folks in eastern Ky kept all their stuff in one.

Red potatoes don't keep as long . . . though from my experience.

Canning potatoes is a trick . . . you CAN water bath can them . . . but you run the risk of botulism poisoning . . .

Lots of folks did that for decades . . . they just made sure they were well cooked before eating them. Making potato salad out of water bath canned potatoes is asking for a trip to the ER . . . and you'll puke all the way.

Pressure canning them is all I will do for long term . . .

The other thing we do here is "heel em in" . . . lay down 6 inches of straw . . . half bushel of taters . . . 6 inches of more straw . . . and 6 to 8 inches of dirt. Works well in Ohio and Ky and WVa . . . and I would imagine would do well in Tx . . . as long as you got them the latest you could . . . let em sit for a week or so in the house . . . then heeled em in. I would try that as well as canning the things.

Usually by mid march or shortly after . . . I'd be digging and eating.

May God bless,
Dwight

[MountainGirl]

Thanks, guys, I appreciate your thoughts. :)
Unless I can talk PO into another freezer (chest, for spuds only lol), I'll probably end up pressure canning.

[MountainGirl]

White potatoes do pretty well in a root cellar . . . keep temp above freezing . . .

Humidity is what it is . . . my folks in eastern Ky kept all their stuff in one.

Red potatoes don't keep as long . . . though from my experience.

Canning potatoes is a trick . . . you CAN water bath can them . . . but you run the risk of botulism poisoning . . .

Lots of folks did that for decades . . . they just made sure they were well cooked before eating them. Making potato salad out of water bath canned potatoes is asking for a trip to the ER . . . and you'll puke all the way.

Pressure canning them is all I will do for long term . . .

The other thing we do here is "heel em in" . . . lay down 6 inches of straw . . . half bushel of taters . . . 6 inches of more straw . . . and 6 to 8 inches of dirt. Works well in Ohio and Ky and WVa . . . and I would imagine would do well in Tx . . . as long as you got them the latest you could . . . let em sit for a week or so in the house . . . then heeled em in. I would try that as well as canning the things.

Usually by mid march or shortly after . . . I'd be digging and eating.

May God bless,
Dwight

Thanks Dwight! Good information there.

I can do pint jars in my InstaPot Pressure Canner. I'd love to learn about your process; do you have any tips or suggestions for doing potatoes? I know I can probably find much on YouTube... but I'd rather learn from someone I know and trust who actually does it.

[Mad Trapper]

MG, if your going to can, get a big canner that can do quarts. Besides taters , you'll want to can all sorts of stuff. Look for used canning jars at tag/garage sales and on CL.

I like the old Mirromatics with the weighted "gigglers". No need to calibrate a gauge. The 16- and 22-qt ones will do 7 quarts at a time. The 22-qt will also allow you to stack pints, on top of the quarts for "double deck" canning. I've got both and smaller ones too.

I've got PDFs for canning references, but damm site here won't let me attach them, "too Fin big"..........

Go here: National Center for Home Food Preservation, covers all options for storing food, https://nchfp.uga.edu/index.html#gsc.tab=0

[MountainGirl]

MG, if your going to can, get a big canner that can do quarts. Besides taters , you'll want to can all sorts of stuff. Look for used canning jars at tag/garage sales and on CL.

I like the old Mirromatics with the weighted "gigglers". No need to calibrate a gauge. The 16- and 22-qt ones will do 7 quarts at a time. The 22-qt will also allow you to stack pints, on top of the quarts for "double deck" canning. I've got both and smaller ones too.

I've got PDFs for canning references, but damm site here won't let me attach them, "too Fin big"..........

Go here: National Center for Home Food Preservation, covers all options for storing food, https://nchfp.uga.edu/index.html#gsc.tab=0

That's a good idea, and thanks for the link.

Our stove is a glass top - and I'll need to research how pressure canners work with those. Your thought about a bigger canner gives me a few ideas too... thanks!

[hawgrider]

That's a good idea, and thanks for the link.

Our stove is a glass top - and I'll need to research how pressure canners work with those. Your thought about a bigger canner gives me a few ideas too... thanks!

I did a lot of canning on a glass top for quite a few years prolly over a decade...

And then the glass cracked.

[White Shadow]

I did a lot of canning on a glass top for quite a few years prolly over a decade...

And then the glass cracked.


You weren't supposed to look directly at the glass, no residential unit is rated for that.


:wall:

[MountainGirl]

:biglaugh:

[Chiefster23]

MG. You’re in TX and it’s hot down there. Summers up here get pretty hot too. I can outside on the porch to keep the heat down inside the house. I started using a Coleman propane camping stove. It worked OK. Last year I found an antique Griswold 2 burner cast iron table top stove. It was designed to burn natural gas but I readjusted the needle valves to use propane. It works better than the Coleman stove. And thank god the kitchen is much cooler now during canning season.

Two days ago I purchased a Ball jam and jelly maker. Just made 4 half-pints of blueberry jam from my blueberry plants. Soon I will be making peach and blackberry batches of jam.

Sorry. I don’t preserve potatoes. But I do can lots of other things.

[bigwheel]

Dehydration with proper storage should keep em somewhat pasably edible for a long time.

[Mad Trapper]

That's a good idea, and thanks for the link.

Our stove is a glass top - and I'll need to research how pressure canners work with those. Your thought about a bigger canner gives me a few ideas too... thanks!

I've done it on a glass top for 10 years now, not broken yet and that's with a big 22-quart. Hawg must have had bad luck, or good luck so far for me?

As mentioned in a later post by @Chiefster23, it does suck doing canning inside when it's already too hot in the summer. I found an old commercial grade counter top 4-burner gas stove. It's stainless with cast iron burners and grates, built like a tank. Might be able to do two canners at once? Will be especially good for boiling down gallons of tomatoes to make sauce. Will be first summer canning outside for me.

[Chiefster23]

I used to make my own spaghetti sauce boiling the sauce down for hours to thicken it up. That really sucked! The house was like an oven!

[Inor]

That's a good idea, and thanks for the link.

Our stove is a glass top - and I'll need to research how pressure canners work with those. Your thought about a bigger canner gives me a few ideas too... thanks!

Be careful with the pressure canner on a glass top stove. Our Minnesota house had a glass top stove and I had to buy Mrs Inor a propane camp stove for the pressure canner. It was too heavy for the glass top.

But pan-fried pressure canned potatoes are the best! They taste more potatoey than fresh.

[Dwight55]

Thanks Dwight! Good information there.

I can do pint jars in my InstaPot Pressure Canner. I'd love to learn about your process; do you have any tips or suggestions for doing potatoes? I know I can probably find much on YouTube... but I'd rather learn from someone I know and trust who actually does it.

As the others have mentioned . . . give up the instapot . . . go get a full size pressure canner . . . pass it up if it has a gauge . . . you only need the jiggler.

Secondly . . . pass up the glass top . . . they do not get as hot as a regular electric stove . . . I canned on one for a couple years . . . my wife hated the thing . . . so I bought her another one with regular burners.

Get a small apartment gas stove . . . put it out on the back porch . . . in the shed . . . somewhere other than the kitchen . . . pressure canning will heat you up in a NY heartbeat.

And just get a copy of the Ball Canning book . . . it will give you the same directions I have . . . it is what I use . . . it and an old Kerr canning book.

Oh . . . BTW . . . the post man came the other day . . . brought me a Tx letter . . . that was neat . . . thank you.

Canned potatoes are good . . . just peeled potatoes are better. We keep them as long as we can each winter season . . . then either buy from grocery or open up the canned stuff. Like Inor said . . . they are really good sliced and fried kinda crispy brown . . . great for breakfast.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Mad Trapper]

Be careful with the pressure canner on a glass top stove. Our Minnesota house had a glass top stove and I had to buy Mrs Inor a propane camp stove for the pressure canner. It was too heavy for the glass top.

But pan-fried pressure canned potatoes are the best! They taste more potatoey than fresh.

With smoked bacon!!!