Retailer Potatoes So They Final Longer, In keeping with Our Assessments

Potatoes are a kitchen staple for good motive—they’re versatile, hearty, and able to being remodeled into numerous scrumptious dishes. Protecting a provide of spuds in my pantry is helpful for making straightforward facet dishes, equivalent to roasted potatoes, air-fryer baked potatoes, or smashed potatoes, however each on occasion, I’ll attain for a potato and discover it sprouting, wrinkling, or worse—rotting. 

Roasted Potatoes

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

The frustration isn’t a lot in regards to the waste—potatoes are low-cost and simple to compost—however after I desire a potato, I freaking desire a potato! To forestall future dinnertime tantrums from my interior baby, I went on a journey to find the very best methods to retailer potatoes and examined numerous strategies for preserving them recent and agency for so long as attainable.

Optimum Circumstances to Retailer Potatoes

Earlier than I started testing, I consulted a number of agricultural guides on post-harvest potatoes, together with these by the Oregon State College Extension Service, the UC Davis Postharvest Analysis and Extension Middle, and the Utah State College Extension. I realized that potatoes can last as long as a 12 months after harvest when stored beneath ideally suited situations, however can shortly spoil if not saved correctly. 

Potatoes saved at room temperature (round 68°F/20°C) will begin to sprout, wrinkle, soften, and decay after only a week or two. However, storing them within the fridge may cause the starches to show into sugars, making them brown too shortly if destined for the fryer. An excessive amount of gentle may cause potatoes to show inexperienced from chlorophyll, regularly accompanied by excessive ranges of a poisonous alkaloid referred to as solanine.

The Goldilocks answer? A darkish, coolish (45°F/7°C to 55°F/13°C or to), well-ventilated place, like a picket potato field in a root cellar—phrases that aren’t precisely a part of the modern-day vernacular. As an city condo dweller, my job was to seek out the subsequent greatest storage container and storage space.

Selecting Potatoes to Take a look at

The shelf lifetime of potatoes can range relying on the kind. Russet potatoes, identified for his or her thick pores and skin and starchy flesh, usually have the longest shelf life, lasting about three to 5 months when saved correctly in a cool, darkish, and dry place. With their thinner pores and skin and creamy texture, Yukon Gold potatoes typically final about two to 3 months beneath the identical situations. Crimson potatoes and fingerlings, which have the next moisture content material and thinner pores and skin, are inclined to have a shorter shelf life, typically lasting round one to 2 months earlier than they soften or sprout. 

For this experiment, I bought 10-pound baggage of russet potatoes and Yukon Gold potatoes—the 2 sorts most Individuals are more likely to maintain readily available—at Costco, ensuring they’d no cracks, bruises, wrinkles, mushy spots, or greening beforehand.

Discovering the Finest Container for Storing Potatoes

I first centered on discovering the most effective containers to retailer potatoes, then seeing how they fared in several storage areas. Perfect containers enable air to flow into and retain humidity whereas stopping moisture buildup that may result in rot. I opted to strive six vessels:

• Paper bag
• Mesh cotton produce bag
• Perforated plastic bag (those bulk potatoes are bought in)
• Lidded cardboard field 
• Metallic wire basket 
• Plastic mixing bowl

After selecting the storage containers, I put them to the take a look at in two units of situations:

1. In a temperature managed fridge drawer set to 50°F (10°C) and 65% humidity to imitate ideally suited root cellar situations.
2. Within the pantry.

Outcomes: Fridge Drawer Set to 50°F (10°C) and 65% Humidity

I positioned two russets and three Yukon Golds in every container and saved them—with nothing else—in a fridge drawer set to 50°F (10°C) and 65% humidity (a a lot increased temp than your common fridge drawer, for testing functions). I checked the drawer’s situation with an indoor thermometer and hygrometer. (Potatoes are about 80% water, so excessive storage humidity—90 to 95%—is good to stop moisture loss and shriveling.)

After every week, all the potatoes seemed kind of the identical. Those within the mesh cotton produce bag and the plastic mixing bowl have been barely softer than the others, however nonetheless mighty fine-looking potatoes. When you’ve got a fridge crisper drawer that may be set to a unique temperature than the remainder of the fridge, this appears to be a really perfect spot to maintain your spuds, whether or not you bag ‘em, bowl ‘em, or simply toss ‘em in free. That mentioned, high-tech cooler drawers are about as accessible as root cellars, so onward with the testing.

Outcomes: Room Temperature Pantry

Because the fridge drawer couldn’t knock out any of the storage container choices from my testing, I repeated the take a look at however positioned all the batches of potatoes in a much less ideally suited surroundings: a room-temperature kitchen pantry. 

I eliminated all the pieces that wasn’t a potato from the space for storing and stored the potatoes there for one week. The daytime temperature (in July) over the week ranged from 65°F (18°C) to 77°F (25°C) with 70 to 95% humidity. Right here’s how each fared.

Paper Bag

The paper bag prevented air flow and ended up feeling damp after every week. Not less than a few potatoes have been getting moldy.

Mesh Cotton Produce Bag

The mesh cotton bag additionally retained an excessive amount of moisture, inflicting the russets to develop mould.

Perforated Plastic Bag

Whoever developed the potato sack at Large Potato knew what they have been doing. The luggage that these potatoes got here in did their job properly, permitting for correct air flow. The subsequent time you purchase a number of kilos of this staple, don’t switch them to a different container. 

Lidded Cardboard Field 

Just like the paper bag, the cardboard field felt damp, the potatoes have been moldy, and a few of the Yukon Golds started to sprout.

Plastic Mixing Bowl

The plastic bowl didn’t supply fairly sufficient air circulation, making the potatoes on the backside damp and squishy.

Metallic Wire Basket

This storage methodology was proper up there with the perforated plastic bag. The open sides provided the potatoes the airflow they wanted. Based mostly on the success of each this methodology and the perforated plastic bag, I concluded that maximizing air circulation as a lot as attainable is vital for making potatoes final. You possibly can even depart them in a pile on the counter, when you don’t thoughts them knocking round, however any breathable open container or bag will do.

Storing Potatoes Alongside Onions

Whereas onions are generally saved with or close to potatoes, specialists advise in opposition to this since onions emit ethylene gasses that may negatively have an effect on the potatoes. The UC Davis Postharvest Analysis and Extension Middle says low ranges of exterior ethylene can trigger weight reduction and delicate shriveling in potatoes, whereas excessive concentrations of exterior ethylene might induce sprouting. 

It’s price noting that industrial non-organic potatoes are sometimes handled with sprout inhibitors to increase storage life. (Natural growers may use important oils to cut back sprouting naturally.) The potatoes I used on this experiment have been standard, so presumably handled with a sprout inhibitor.

I examined onion’s influence on potatoes by storing them each in the identical wire basket in a single pantry and potatoes on their very own in one other pantry for a management group. I additionally positioned one batch in a darkish nook of my counter, sitting subsequent to a bowl of onions.

After one week, the countertop potatoes sitting subsequent to the bowl of onions fared the worst out of all of the potatoes all through the testing. The spuds have been shriveled, squishy, and slightly moldy (see above). The potatoes that have been saved nearer to the onions however within the extra ideally suited storage situations of the pantry seemed a lot better. 

Nonetheless, the pantry potatoes saved subsequent to the alliums picked up an off taste—doubtless a degradation brought on by the ethylene emitted from the onions—which I found after I cooked with them. I fried and boiled batches of every to see how they tasted. Fried russet potatoes that had been saved within the pantry subsequent to onions smelled oniony and tasted acrid, bitter, and bitter in comparison with the management group, which smelled recent and earthy and tasted solely of potato.

Steamed Yukon Golds saved subsequent to onions had some sharpness however weren’t as bitter. I think I wouldn’t have seen this a lot if I didn’t carry out a side-by-side tasting. The steamed russets saved with the onions have been extra unappetizing, taking up a stale style, and void of potato taste.

My takeaway, which aligns with skilled recommendation, is to keep away from storing these staple meals collectively—and sure different ethylene gas-producing meals like bananas and apples, for instance—significantly in the identical bowl. Because the room-temperature potatoes have been rotting, I didn’t style them, however they seemed horrible. We all know that storage situations even have a big effect on the end result of your potatoes, so the much less ideally suited the storage situations, the more serious total, and the presence of ethylene gas-producing meals exacerbates that. 

How Refrigeration Impacts Potato Storage

The Oregon State College Extension Service says storage temperatures under 38°F (3°C) may cause sugar buildup or sweetening: “Fried merchandise from such tubers are darker and oilier than these from tubers saved at increased temperature.” Nonetheless, the UC Davis Postharvest Analysis and Extension Middle says that chilling harm, outlined as a “discoloration of inner tissue,” solely happens throughout longer intervals of storage, often a couple of weeks.

To see if one week within the fridge noticeably altered potatoes’ sugar-to-starch ratio, I positioned a wire basket of potatoes within the crisper drawer of my fridge and set it to 34°F (1°C) and 60% humidity. After every week, the looks didn’t change a lot, apart from the moisture condensing on the skins as they returned to room temperature.

In my very own exams, I might clearly see the refrigerated potatoes brown quicker when fried—too quick for them to prepare dinner completely with out burning. These refrigerated potatoes additionally tasted bitter, presumably as a result of additional browning. There was no discoloration after I steamed the potatoes, however the refrigerated ones tasted barely bitter and form of like a fridge—like when butter is stored too lengthy. The nice, earthy potatoey taste that ought to be there was missing.

The Takeaway: Retailer Potatoes So They’ll Final 

By following these steps, you’ll take pleasure in recent, agency potatoes for weeks, prepared to be used in no matter dish you need—whether or not it’s a comforting mash, crispy fries, or a hearty stew. 

1. Select high quality potatoes. Begin by deciding on agency, unblemished potatoes. Keep away from any with cuts, bruises, or inexperienced spots, as these are extra liable to spoilage.
2. Don’t wash earlier than storing. Maintain your potatoes dry. Any extra moisture can result in mould progress and untimely spoiling. In case your potatoes are significantly soiled, gently brush off extra soil with a dry fabric or a mushy brush.
3. Retailer in a cool, darkish place. If attainable, discover a spot between 45°F (7°C) and 55°F (13°C), like a basement, pantry, or cool cabinet. Maintain potatoes away from daylight and warmth sources.
4. Maximize air circulation as a lot as attainable. Use breathable storage, equivalent to a mesh plastic bag or a wire basket, to retailer your potatoes, ensuring to not crowd the potatoes to keep away from extra moisture buildup. 
5. Examine on them commonly. Examine your saved potatoes for indicators of sprouting or spoilage each one to 2 weeks. Potatoes which have spoiled will trigger others to spoil quicker, so take away any which can be mushy, sprouting, moldy, or inexperienced.
6. Stay away from ethylene-producing meals. Potatoes and onions could also be kitchen companions in cooking, however they shouldn’t be saved collectively. Onions launch gasses that may give potatoes an off taste and velocity spoilage, and so do different fruit and veggies like apples, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados.