Vile smelling spuds

M and S and Waitrose quite often sell loose new potatoes, we don't eat many. I don't keep them in the fridge as I read that the sugar content increases if this is done.

And yes, the smell is terrible, Babs03

I bought nectarines on Friday and was horrified to find them covered in tiny flies today in the bowl. Two had rotted a bit underneath yet they are still hard.

The trouble is that potatoes are washed now before being sold, and potatoes should be kept unwashed, with earth on them and in a cool, dry, dark place until you want to use them.

And of course selling vegetables in plastic bags just adds to the speed at which they start to rot.

However, OP, in my opinion, onions smell just as bad when they start rotting.

Esmay

I find that potatoes keep well when covered with either brown paper or newspaper .

Yes mine do well in a Primark carrier. I tip them straight away from the sales bag

I plant potatoes the have shoots ,(chitted?) and get loads more. A rotten spud reeks and the house smells even when culprits are gone.

Ugh yes, rotten potatoes they are stomach -turning.
I think of the potato famine in Ireland in 1860s when potatoes were the staple diet for the rural poor & the blight caused them to rot in the ground. No way to eat rotten potatoes even if there is nothing else.

I try to take potatoes out of their plastic bag asap, dry them and put them in a potato bag. But every so often I forget to and end up with a rotten one which does, indeed, produce the most evil stench. It’s one of those smells that lingers in your nostrils. Rotten carrots come close, too.

The plastic bags aren't good and also potatoes bruise & that can start it. Sometimes the young supermarket shelf-fillers don't seem to realise, & chuck them about a bit.
I do love having clean potatoes to cook with though - I used to buy a big bag of farm potatoes & had to spend an extra 5 minutes to get them clean & clean the mud out of the sink afterwards.

I was very unpopular recently when I returned a bag of potatoes to my local Waitrose, awful stink and all. The staff at Customer Services recoiled.

I did that because I had paid a premium for some or other special potato variety (and they were in a fancy paper bag), and when I opened the bag one was completely rotten.

The Waitrose is walking distance from my house so I could walk off my annoyance at the same time!

It’s the methyl chemicals they release that aren’t found in other vegetables.
I once ‘lost’ a turnip under the car seat, a few days later the smell was unbearable! They release Sulphur..

It is best to get potatoes (and carrots) out of the plastic bags as soon as possible. I find large cereal boxes with a layer of paper at the base keep them well, I clip the top shut with a clothes peg to keep out the light.

RVKICR. Cereal box - a clever idea.

The last two bags of ‘old’ potatoes I’ve had, contained some rotting ones. I’ve never really known this before. Is it weather related, I wonder?