Over the next few days I will be doing blog posts on growing, dehydrating and rehydrating potatoes. For those who are wondering why on earth someone would go to the trouble to dehydrate potatoes instead of going to the store and buying potatoes, I’ll share my thoughts. These are only my thoughts . . nothing more!
I am not an alarmist. I have eaten potatoes from the grocery store for . . let’s say a very long time. Potatoes are one of my very favorite foods so I’ve consumed plenty of them. I’m still here and fairly healthy as far as I know so I’m not anti-grocery store potatoes. I’m sure I’ll buy them again at some point in my future.
Why do I grow potatoes? First, they’re very easy to grow. The best news is . . they grow underground and until the grasshoppers have eaten the entire tops of the potatoes, my crop isn’t affected too badly. The grasshoppers have now eaten the entire tops of my plants!
Second, I am a little concerned about anything that grows completely in the dirt – potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, beets, etc. Anything that has been used on the ground as far as chemicals or pesticides, or even suppose some old building fell or burned and was just buried on a site, and later root crops were raised there, will those crops absorb anything from what was once there? I don’t know.
This article discusses some of the fruits and vegetables that might be more beneficial to buy organic . . simply because most folks can’t afford to buy all organic so they’re giving some recommendations on which ones to place at the top of the organic list.
Most everything we grow at home tastes different from what we buy. Keep in mind that we don’t have great farmers’ markets around here and everything we’re able to get comes from Kroger or Wal-Mart so my comparisons are quite different from what you may be able to get in your area. Some of the things we grow, are great but not terribly different from what we get in the stores. When I’m able to get nice, big, fresh bell peppers in the stores, I wouldn’t say my homegrown taste a whole lot different. I don’t find a huge difference in the yellow squash I grow compared to the yellow squash I find in the stores when it’s fresh.
Potatoes — they’re one of those things that we say “WOW!” when we eat our first few home grown potatoes.
If you aren’t able to grow potatoes underground in your area, they can be grown above ground in containers.
Potato Bin
The photo above is how I grew potatoes in Missouri. The wooden boxes were shipping crates and the wood was untreated and didn’t last but through a couple of years of growing potatoes. We called them “the potato coffins”. The wire on top and the boards with nails . . deer deterrent! (Notice there’s even a water hose in my photo from MO.)
This post explains how we grew the potatoes in the boxes. Growing potatoes above the ground in containers is an excellent way to grow them. I’ve heard of folks doing it by stacking up old tires to make a column. I wouldn’t use old tires but that’s just me! Anything that has chemicals that may leach out into your soil and be absorbed by your potatoes, I would avoid.
This year I planted a lot of potatoes and they produced a lot of potatoes. In order to keep them through the year, I have to preserve them somehow. Ideally, I’d have a root cellar. I do not. We are having an underground storm shelter installed but not in time for this year’s potato crop.
Freezing potatoes is a terrible way to put them up. I have not had good luck freezing potatoes.
Canning them is an option. I still have some that were canned from last year and they’re still good. The best ones for canning are the smaller ones that don’t have to be cut up. Starch escapes from the cut potatoes and they aren’t nearly as good. Also, the potatoes are put up in water so there’s only so much that can be done with them. They make good casseroles and good potato salads though. I find that the texture and taste changes a bit with canned potatoes. They’re good but they’re obviously not fresh.
Dehydrating is a bit more trouble with potatoes than with most items because they have to be cooked ahead of time but I find that dehydrated potatoes, when rehydrated and cooked, taste more like fresh than do any other “stored” potatoes. Keep in mind that I have never had potatoes that were stored for months in a root cellar. I can imagine that they taste pretty close to fresh too.
Somewhere I read that dehydrated potatoes will last 30 years. I’m not buying it but I can’t say that I’ve kept any that long to see if it’s true. The shelf life I’m most comfortable recommending is 8 – 10 years if stored at a stable 70º. My goal is to have dehydrated potatoes that will last for 2 years. I have a bumper crop this year. I have no guarantee about next year. If next year’s crop produces no potatoes, then I want enough of my home grown potatoes to get me through til the 2015 crop. I’m 100% confident with keeping dehydrated potatoes for 2 years.
You may never plan to grow your own potatoes but if ever you come across a screaming hot deal on potatoes and want to buy them but aren’t sure if you can use them before they go bad, you can always dehydrate them!
In the next potato post, I will talk about how I go about dehydrating them. I will tell you now that the dehydrator I use is the Excalibur 3926TB model.
Dehydrator
It is expensive . . more so than many dehydrators you can buy. We’ve had several of the lesser expensive models through the years and they don’t compare to this one. The photo above was taken in MO when I was dehydrating peaches and okra. I’ve had this dehydrator for four years, though last year I didn’t use it at all, but I love it. I’m considering getting a second one because this time of year, I keep it going almost non-stop and it would be nice to double the load, but it’s something else to store during the months I’m not using it.
Shout4Joy says
I want to try some above ground pototoes – I found this website with towers NOT made from tires 🙂 http://growinglots.blogspot.com/2010/06/potato-towers-living-fence-posts.html and am still trying to get my husband to work with me on the towers 🙂
CindyM says
talk of planting, harvesting and eating potatoes always reminds me of my grandfather, who lived all of his life on a farm in Iowa. He planted acres of potatoes when I was young, and had one of those old potato planters that I’m sure was converted from being pulled by horses to being pulled by a small tractor when I was youung…. but he was a very small man and would be perched on that little metal seat, keepign the 4 little buckets of potatoes full as theyy were being planted. I wish I had a photograph of my grandpa perched on that seat. At one time he sold potatoes to the cannery in Muscatine, IA…. I do beleive he ate potatoes 3 meals a day almost every day of his life, and he lived to be 100 years and 10 months old. He was a gardener extraordinaire — and even in his upper 90s would literally crawl down the rows of his garden, picking beans or peas.
Jean S. says
I love drying potatoes too. I especially love them for quick hash browns. Take out about half what you think you’ll need, cover them with hot water for 3 or 4 minutes, and they’re ready to fry. I use steam to blanch my potatoes. I’ll be interested to see how you do yours. I also have the Excaliber dryer. I went through three less expensive brands and was never happy with them.
ida in central PA says
We’re growing potatoes for the first time this year. DH saw some purple planting potatoes and decided to give it a whirl. We’re growing them on our deck in ‘recycled’ 5-gallon pickle buckets from our favorite Quick Service Restaurant.
Lea says
I’m going to show my hubby this post. I wanted to grow them this year and he said they are too cheap at the store and couldn’t see a reason to add to the garden. Thanks for the info. My gramps grew his own, well he grew everything, and canned everything even ketchup.
Regina says
We’ve got a nice medium sized crop going now – never thought about dehydrating though most of ours will probably be eaten soon after harvest. Can’t wait!!! We just mulched the tops last night to coax them taller – we are using fabric grocery sacks for the single plants, and a big collapsible leaf bin for the triple planting – so I can “unroll” them as the plants get taller.
Theresa Alsup says
How do you store the dehydrated potatoes?
Tammie Stephens says
Judy, Your blog topic could not be more timely. I was just thinking there has to be a better way to keep fresh potatoes than just canning. Not that cannings bad but I agree that there is a taste difference and I’m running out of room for jars. I have a small dehydrator and could give the drying a try. Actually i am very excited about it…. My “ball book” says peel, cut into slices 1/4 and steam blanch 5 to 6 mins. But it doesn’t say how you (I) will know they are done. Can’t wait for your follow up blog. Again thanks for sharing. Gardening is hard work but soooo worth the great food year round.
AngieG9 says
I can’t wait for the next blog either, since I’m drying a lot of produce this year. I don’t have enough space to store canned food, and dehydrated just seems to be the way to go. I did have a root celler on the farm, and couldn’t keep the potatoes very long before they started rooting and getting soft. A friend suggested digging a deep hole and storing them in it, shoveling the dirt over them and then digging out what you need for a few days. They kept better, but it was like digging up the garden several times to get them, plus after the ground froze it was impossible to get to the potatoes and turnips we had stored there. I am really anxious to know how to dehydrate the potatoes for storage, so I won’t have to worry about getting out in the bad weather this winter if I want potatoes. Plus, I can buy them in bulk if I can dehydrate them. Thank you Judy. You are a veritable well of information.
Susan says
I have absolutely no question about why you’d want to dehydrate potatoes!
gardenpat says
I have loved my Excalibur dehydrator through several seasons and am thrilled with the even-ness of the drying using it!! I’ve used several other brands and types but there is no wasted space in this one and I don’t need to rotate shelves! It’s well worth the price (and no, I don’t sell them!)!
Dana Pellerin says
Are there any chemicals you can spray to keep the grasshoppers away from your crops? It must break your heart to see their destruction. hope they leave after eating all the green tops. Does that affect the potatoes in any way? Wow I think I would get discouraged,. Keep on trucking. Dana
Linda Steller says
Actually, for the capacity of that dryer, it’s not all that expensive. Looks like a really nice one. I just have one of the small American Harvest round ones. My sister, who has a large garden, has a huge American Harvest, but this looks much nicer.