The way to Retailer Potatoes So They Final Longer, In line with Our Checks

Potatoes are a kitchen staple for good cause—they’re versatile, hearty, and able to being reworked into numerous scrumptious dishes. Conserving a provide of spuds in my pantry is helpful for making straightforward aspect dishes, equivalent to roasted potatoes, air-fryer baked potatoes, or smashed potatoes, however each every now and then, 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 concerning the waste—potatoes are low-cost and straightforward to compost—however after I need a potato, I freaking need a potato! To stop future dinnertime tantrums from my interior youngster, I went on a journey to find the best possible methods to retailer potatoes and examined numerous strategies for preserving them recent and agency for so long as attainable.

Optimum Situations 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 Heart, and the Utah State College Extension. I realized that potatoes can last as long as a yr after harvest when saved underneath best circumstances, however can rapidly 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. Alternatively, storing them within the fridge may cause the starches to show into sugars, making them brown too rapidly if destined for the fryer. An excessive amount of mild may cause potatoes to show inexperienced from chlorophyll, steadily 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 wood potato field in a root cellar—phrases that aren’t precisely a part of the modern-day vernacular. As an city house dweller, my job was to search out the subsequent greatest storage container and storage space.

Selecting Potatoes to Check

The shelf lifetime of potatoes can fluctuate relying on the kind. Russet potatoes, recognized for his or her thick pores and skin and starchy flesh, sometimes 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 usually final about two to 3 months underneath the identical circumstances. Purple 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 varieties most People are more likely to hold readily available—at Costco, ensuring that they had no cracks, bruises, wrinkles, mushy spots, or greening beforehand.

Discovering the Greatest Container for Storing Potatoes

I first centered on discovering the very best containers to retailer potatoes, then seeing how they fared in numerous storage areas. Excellent containers permit air to flow into and retain humidity whereas stopping moisture buildup that may result in rot. I opted to attempt 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 circumstances:

1. In a temperature managed fridge drawer set to 50°F (10°C) and 65% humidity to imitate best root cellar circumstances.
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 larger 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 right to stop moisture loss and shriveling.)

After per week, all the potatoes appeared roughly the identical. Those within the mesh cotton produce bag and the plastic mixing bowl had 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 distinct temperature than the remainder of the fridge, this appears to be a great spot to maintain your spuds, whether or not you bag ‘em, bowl ‘em, or simply toss ‘em in free. That stated, 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 best surroundings: a room-temperature kitchen pantry. 

I eliminated every part that wasn’t a potato from the space for storing and saved 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 per week. At the least a few potatoes had 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 Huge Potato knew what they had been doing. The luggage that these potatoes got here in did their job nicely, permitting for correct air flow. The following 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 had been moldy, and among 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. Primarily based on the success of each this methodology and the perforated plastic bag, I concluded that maximizing air circulation as a lot as attainable is essential for making potatoes final. You may even go away them in a pile on the counter, in case 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 Heart 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 scale back sprouting naturally.) The potatoes I used on this experiment had been typical, so probably handled with a sprout inhibitor.

I examined onion’s impression 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 had been shriveled, squishy, and just a little moldy (see above). The potatoes that had been saved nearer to the onions however within the extra best storage circumstances of the pantry appeared a lot better. 

Nonetheless, the pantry potatoes saved subsequent to the alliums picked up an off taste—seemingly 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 believe I wouldn’t have observed this a lot if I didn’t carry out a side-by-side tasting. The steamed russets saved with the onions had been extra unappetizing, taking over a stale style, and void of potato taste.

My takeaway, which aligns with professional recommendation, is to keep away from storing these staple meals collectively—and sure different ethylene gas-producing meals like bananas and apples, for instance—notably in the identical bowl. Because the room-temperature potatoes had been rotting, I didn’t style them, however they appeared horrible. We all know that storage circumstances even have a huge impact on the result of your potatoes, so the much less best the storage circumstances, the more severe general, and the presence of ethylene gas-producing meals exacerbates that. 

How Refrigeration Impacts Potato Storage

The Oregon State College Extension Service says storage temperatures beneath 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 larger temperature.” Nonetheless, the UC Davis Postharvest Analysis and Extension Heart says that chilling harm, outlined as a “discoloration of inside tissue,” solely happens throughout longer intervals of storage, often just a few 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 per week, the looks didn’t change a lot, aside from the moisture condensing on the skins as they returned to room temperature.

In my very own checks, I may clearly see the refrigerated potatoes brown sooner when fried—too quick for them to prepare dinner totally with out burning. These refrigerated potatoes additionally tasted bitter, probably as a result of additional browning. There was no discoloration after I steamed the potatoes, however the refrigerated ones tasted barely bitter and type of like a fridge—like when butter is saved too lengthy. The nice, earthy potatoey taste that needs to be there was missing.

The Takeaway: The way to 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 choosing 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. Hold your potatoes dry. Any further moisture can result in mould progress and untimely spoiling. In case your potatoes are notably 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. Hold 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. Test 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 sooner, so take away any which can be mushy, sprouting, moldy, or inexperienced.
6. Avoid ethylene-producing meals. Potatoes and onions could also be kitchen companions in cooking, however they shouldn’t be saved collectively. Onions launch gasses that can provide potatoes an off taste and velocity spoilage, and so do different fruit and veggies like apples, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados.