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Interesting points. Didn't know some of them. My 2c: in India, I don't think anyone stores potatoes in the fridge, even though we have quite hot weather in many
by vram22 6y ago
Interesting points. Didn't know some of them. My 2c: in India, I don't think anyone stores potatoes in the fridge, even though we have quite hot weather in many parts of the country.
Does trimming the sprouts prevent them from rotting?
- masklinn 6y agoI don't think it prevents rotting, but it temporarily stops and slows the sprouting process, which is actively converting potato to sprouts and ultimately a plant (so the potato gets all shriveled, and you've got greening spread from the sprouting site which is full of bitter and somewhat toxic compounds).
- vram22 6y agoGot it now, thanks. Yes, I've heard that the greenish parts of the potato tuber are toxic and should be discarded. Contain some alkaloids, likely. The potato is a plant in the Solanaceae family, which includes common edible plants like potato, tomato, eggplant, chillies, bell peppers, etc., as well as some poisonous ones like datura. In fact, I was surprised to see how huge and diverse the family is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanaceae
- vector_spaces 6y agoYeah, the green parts of the potato are rich in chlorophyll due to light exposure, and the presence of high levels of chlorophyll implies the presence of toxic levels of nasty alkaloids like solanine
- max_hammer 6y agoPatatos are stored in cold storage.
- kebman 6y agoThat's pretty interesting. Where and how do you store taters in India? And what kind of potatoes do you produce? Anyway, didn't know my silly comment would spawn such an avid potato-debate xD
- devdas 6y agoIn an open bag in the corner of a kitchen. You usually only buy for a few days, so storage isn't a huge issue.
- vram22 6y agoCannot answer for everyone in India, of course, even broadly, because I have never checked this out before. But for home use, based on my own approach and that of relatives and friends, I can say: just in a place in the kitchen away from direct sunlight, and in a slightly cooler place, if possible. Open, not covered, so air can circulate. Also, my guess is that many households buy only a small amount at a time, and use it up before it has a chance to go bad. For restaurants and other bigger users, don't know how they do it. Interesting point, I will see if I can find out. In homes, they do spoil, sometimes, if you don't use them soon. This made me think of another point: I wonder if there is any home-based small-scale way of preserving potatoes for a long period? You can do that in multiple ways for many vegetables (fermenting, pickling, drying, etc.). >And what kind of potatoes do you produce? If you mean varieties, like I've read about in the US, such as Yukon Gold, russet potatoes, etc., I don't know the answer, sorry. My guess is that most of us here may not be aware of potato varieties, or there could be only one or a few mainstream ones, possibly due to India's green revolution having the side-effect of knocking out many earlier-existing varieties. But that may be more true of natively Indian plant species, not so much for the potato, which only came to India, I guess, a few hundred years ago, via the Portuguese, probably.