Sprouting Spuds

Spuds not sluds!,

If my sluds start to sprout because I haven’t used them quick enough...... I peel them all and boil them and mash them . Put into plastic pots and freeze them. Sorted.

My DH grows our potatoes, usually seed potatoes from horticultural shop. He doesn’t replant our own sprouted potatoes as quote’youre not supposed to do that’, no further information cometh . However when we go on holiday he will bring potatoes from elsewhere to chit.

I too find that potatoes don't keep as well nowadays as they used to. I store mine in a wooden box in the cellar. The box has a lid, is lined with newspaper and stands on four bricks so air circulates under it.

But by the end of a month the tatties are sprouting. I blame the plastic bags they are packed and sold in, as they are always damp when you open the bag at home.

My grandmother used to wait until the milk was really solid and separated and then strain it through butter muslin until the liquids had dissappeared and, bingo! you have a nice white soft chees , like cottage cheese.

Potatoes are a bit like rhubarb. one part is edible, the rest of the plant isn't, so take the sprouts off(poisonous) and eat the tuber (edible).

Even the cold part of modern houses is much warmer than in the past and we are not having the long cold winters of yore - look at this winter, everything in the garden has been sprouting early.

Buying loose potatoes in supermarkets is very limited I find JohnD, they only seem to offer general purpose white. I like to get specific varieties for roasting, mashing, boiling, etc. These only seem to be sold in 2.5 kg bags which last the two of us quite a while.
David1968 freezing mashed potato was mentioned further up the thread by Phoenix who does this regularly and recommends it.
DiggingDoris I’ve also heard about not storing onions with potatoes and have moved them into a different drawer but doesn’t seem to have made much difference, perhaps they need moving further away .
Thank you all for your input, I shall continue to cut off the shoots and use the potatoes anyway. Will also try freezing roasted potatoes as well as mashed. Thanks Anmarr.

We grow our own which are usually organic, unless we get the dreaded Colorada Beetle (endemic in France), if it's a big infestation we have to use something chemical otherwise we try and keep it under control by hand. I would rather have our treated potatoes if necessary so I know what went on it, rather than lose the crop and have something from the supermarket.

We store them in the dark in the barn in net sacks. they do started to sprout in late winter, but as others say I just knock the sprouts off. When we get to spring if any are left then we plant these and they produce some earlies, they come from seed potatoes from the garden centre and we have never had any sort of problem.

Try to buy loose potatoes. You only buy enough to last a week and these rarely sprout. Often there are too many in the plastic bags and certainly take a long time to finish.

Buy smaller bags and keep them in the dark

I think that you can freeze mashed potato? (Though I haven't tried this myself. Has anyone done this? ) Like a lot of GNs here, in this household we just cut the sprouting bits off and use spuds as normal.

I usually take them out of the plastic bags, store in a cool dark place and what happens, the blighters sprout. It's a modern day problem. I do take the sprouts off and use them.

They don’t stay long enough to start to sprout in our house. Have had a jacket potato for my tea every night for the last four years

You can also freeze roast potatoes. This is on the Sainsbury's site: Extra crunchy freeze-ahead roast potatoes.

I only buy organic vegetables and if the potatoes get sprouts I just twist them off. I only buy small bags so I don't get to keep them long as I like potatoes almost every day. It is the green parts of a potato you should not eat.

I think supermarkets bag them up so we have to buy them more often as they are going to sprout. I tend to buy a few loose when I need them now. Fed up of throwing them away. When I grew my own they didn't sprout like that- I kept them in dark in garage & they lasted ages.

Just keep them cool and in the dark. Never put uncooked potatoes in the fridge - it does something to the starches to make them more sugary.
HOWEVER, keeping cooked potatoes in the fridge converts the starches into resistant starch which can't be digested so well, so less calorific.

It's temperature. Even the coolest corner of our homes is probably warmer than your granny's larder was.
Have you tried the bottom of the fridge?

Fennel that's right and it includes tomatoes and aubergines but ofcourse deadly nightshade aka atropa belladonna has her uses in medicine and was used as eyedrops to dilate the pupils hence the name beautiful lady
I digress.

When its winter temperatures I leave mine outside in the shed. Now it is getting warmer I keep them in the fridge.

Someone once told me not to keep onions near potatoes at they give off something that makes them sprout.

We invested in a potato bag from Lakeland.

We buy only two potatoes at a time for baking, roasting or mash.

That is unless we’re buying a bag of those little Jersey’s or Charlotte’s.

We remove an sprouts before we cook them.

ps tomatoes are from the same family - solanaceae.

Grammaretto - Potatoes are from the same plant family as deadly nightshade. That's why my husband refused to eat them for years, he does now TG.

We grow potatoes in the community garden so I have become something of an expert know-all I now know about first earlies and maincrop and how to chit.
We have at least 10 favourite varieties in different shapes and sizes. Some floury, some waxy.
However eventually they deteriorate if not planted out. If you decide to plant them, they love manure and compost so grow really well on the compost heap!

My Irish ancestors knew a thing or 2 as tatties are a very easy and productive crop to grow. except when they get blight
I know you must not eat them if they are green or eat the potato apples, ie the fruit which appear after the plants have flowered. It's strange how such a valuable foodstuff is poisonous apart from the root tubors.

Full cream milk - personally I can't bear the stuff but we often have some left after Gdcs have visited. If I forget to give it to dd, I just freeze it for next time. Milk freezes perfectly - I often freeze any that's still in the fridge before we go away.
Have to decant into plastic bottles, though - our milk comes in glass from the milkman. Have been known to use dh's cycling water bottles if nothing else available!