Gransnet forums

Chat

Look what I bought...

(40 Posts)
lizzypopbottle Tue 27-Aug-19 15:54:28

Potatoes with muck on them!

discodiva Sat 31-Aug-19 09:36:43

I grow my own and that's exactly how they look when I store them.
I also never used to keep potatoes in the plastic bags they came in (before I started growing them) because they'd sweat - and sprout.
There is nothing like tasting home grown potatoes, makes you wonder what they do to them on the field to make them taste so bland.

Greyduster Thu 29-Aug-19 09:12:23

Anno your comment about seaweed reminded me that I had read somewhere that it was the seaweed that was used on the fields in Jersey that gave Jersey Royals such a lovely flavour, but apparently it is now too expensive to use it and they are not as flavourful.
I love Pembrokeshire potatoes; pity we can’t get them up here.

annodomini Thu 29-Aug-19 08:45:13

I used to go down to the farm and buy a half cwt sack - must have been a good 30 years ago. I was born in Ayrshire and maintain that Ayrshire spuds are by far the best. When we were kids, we would see the horse-drawn carts going down to the beach and bringing back loads of seaweed for the fields. Used to joke that our potatoes were ready salted.

Americanpie Thu 29-Aug-19 08:04:34

I too got a bag from Morrison's the variety was Estima and these make great chips and roast potatoes. I was born in Cheshire and this variety along with Nadine are a local spud. These make a mean mash as well, a good all rounder.

Marydoll Thu 29-Aug-19 00:02:04

I grow potatoes in old dustbins. So easy to do.

Marydoll Thu 29-Aug-19 00:00:57

A farm sack of potatoes weighs roughly 10kg or 22.0462lbs to be precise!

Dirty Ayrshire potatoes for me! Even better with some fresh herring.
The leftovers make a tasty potato salad.

Evie64 Wed 28-Aug-19 23:29:56

GrauntyHelen, I agree, nothing like digging your own spuds up that taste amazing. Sadly, we don't have the garden anymore since we downsized, but I can dream.........

lizzypopbottle Wed 28-Aug-19 21:01:17

The Jersey Royals used to be kidney shaped too, and the skins were flakey and just rubbed off with your thumb.

Happysexagenarian Wed 28-Aug-19 18:57:57

We grow early new potatoes in raised beds and barrels, it's lovely to eat them within minutes of digging them up. We get giant jacket spuds from our local farm shop, with dirt on. I agree with Callistemon that Jersey Royals just don't seem to have that distinctive flavour these days, and I'm sure they're bigger than they used to be.

Callistemon Wed 28-Aug-19 17:05:16

We used to buy a huge bagful from the farm when the DC were still at home.

Cyprus potatoes are lovely, I can remember them from years ago too. Jersey Royals used to be tastier than they seem to be now.

I try to buy Cornish or Pembroke new potatoes when in season

Legs55 Wed 28-Aug-19 16:59:45

I can beat that, I have veg boxes delivered from local farms. Potatoes, onions, carrots, leeks etc come complete with mud. I love buying them this way, keep better & doesn't take much to clean them.

Veg is also often what is now called "misshapen" , I've got some interesting shaped carrots for tonight's dinnergrin

Gonegirl Wed 28-Aug-19 16:52:17

It might have been coal that came in cwt sacks, on the coalman's back.

Gonegirl Wed 28-Aug-19 16:50:37

Yes. Half a cwt. A normal sackful. It was a paper sack.

mokryna Wed 28-Aug-19 16:45:24

My mother would moan when she found clumps of soil clinging to the potatoes she had bought from the local greengrocers in the 50s, 'I don't pay to buy soil', she would say.

OmaforMaya Wed 28-Aug-19 16:33:09

Gone girl...55cwt is almost 3 ton.

Liz46 Wed 28-Aug-19 15:58:16

I remember we looked after my step grandchildren for a few days. I don't remember them watching me in the kitchen but when their mother came to pick them up, they went running to her saying 'Nanny Liz made chips OUT OF POTATOES'!

GrauntyHelen Wed 28-Aug-19 14:15:55

Lovely Im fortunate to get them like this straight from the allotment now but always bought dirty tatties and carrots they seem to taste better

Purpledaffodil Wed 28-Aug-19 13:32:28

And the ones the supermarkets sell in bags for baking are minute! Which means buying them loose and washed at an even higher price! ?

Tish Wed 28-Aug-19 12:48:30

They keep much better too.

lizzypopbottle Wed 28-Aug-19 12:01:42

I'm sorry to say I didn't notice where they came from. I was too excited by their authenticity! Spuds from the ground. Trace elements and minerals! Loose spuds. I could buy just as many as I needed. No waste. They were great for roasties but would have made good jackets too because there were no nasty surprises inside, nothing to cut away. They were from Morrison's.

Gonegirl I think you mean 56lb bags, that's half a cwt.

oldgaijin Wed 28-Aug-19 09:29:10

I grow my own tatties in plastic barrels. They take up little space and produce a delicious, home grown treat.

Maggiemaybe Wed 28-Aug-19 08:54:36

DH has had great crops in the allotment this year, particularly the potatoes, which last for ages in paper sacks in the cellar. We have Desiree, Charlotte, Red Duke of York and my favourite, Pink Fir Apples. All stored good and mucky. smile

Bathsheba Wed 28-Aug-19 08:45:54

Good size too, often supermarket ones too small for jackets!

That's because the supermarkets separate out the bigger ones and sell them as 'jacket potatoes', at an inflated price. Always annoys me angry

Chewbacca Wed 28-Aug-19 08:18:52

On my way back from North Wales last Saturday, I spotted an old milk cart parked up in a farm lane. It was laden with paper bags of muddy spuds; bunches of muddy carrots with all their leaves; little soil laden cauliflowers; bags of bent runner beans and ..... best of all ...... trays of mucky free range eggs! ? I bought all my fresh produce for the week, plus bunches of sunflowers, all for £4.20. They were the tastiest veg I've had in a long time and went down a treat with the Welsh lamb with the family on Sunday.

agnurse Wed 28-Aug-19 01:12:52

Nice spuds! Are they local? I love garden-fresh produce!