[nanacoon]

Wanted to show you my cute little potato crop that we just harvested last night. Not bad for only planting 16 little seed potatoes a couple months ago. I've divided them up into... my baking potatoes, regular potatoes, my tiny "salt" (bad word) potatoes and the few culls that got "wounded" by the digging fork. They're mostly a Yukon Gold variety. They will taste good this Fall... as my STARCH portion of the Rice Diet. Bonnie

[Sparticles]

nanacoon, on 18 August 2009 - 01:23 PM, said:

They will taste good this Fall... as my STARCH portion of the Rice Diet.

They look delicious!

But I have a simple question - How do you keep them from going bad before you can gt to eat them?

I can buy taters from the grocery store that look and smell perfect, store them in a hundred different ways in my top floor apartment, and still by the end of the first and definitely by the second week they're full of eyes or turning liquidy. Have you ever smelled a rotten, oozing potato? Not a nice scent!

I mean it, I have used every hint I read on-line, with the exception of a root cellar (hard to come by in apartment living in an urban area) and nothing has worked. I now buy only the number of potatoes I need for a dish and try to buy them the day I'm planning on cooking them.

What's your secret?


Sue

[nanacoon]

Good Morning Sue, I don't usually have a problem with potatoes going bad... Yes I do know what a rotten potato smells like - WHEW, it's BAD. If I buy potatoes from the store in those nasty little plastic bags - I immediately take them from the bag and pile them up in an open basket that fits on a shelf in one of my cupboards. The boxes of potatoes in the picture - I just slide each box into a brown paper sack and lay them up on a shelf down cellar where it's cool and dark. I also keep the humidity low down cellar for storing my winter squash and pumpkins. I check them on a regular basis to keep track of anything that's starting to turn bad. I guess the secret is cool, dry and out of the light. If you're storing winter squash... I've heard the suggestion of spraying them with peroxide before you store them and that should keep some of the mold spores in check, I'll be doing that this Fall.
I also have good luck with storing garlic bulbs too all Winter - through-out Spring and into Summer by storing them in brown paper bags and keeping them in a cool, dark area. I have SCADS of garlic bulbs... I'm talking about a couple of BIG shoe boxes full... my favorite way to use garlic is to roast the cloves and store them in a small amount of Safflower oil to cover. DELICIOUS. Bonnie

[moonwaters]

Hi!
I am envious of these potatoes, they look wonderful! I also want to thank you for the storage tips to avoid bad potatoes. Such simple ideas! Thanks!

moonwaters

[nanacoon]

Welcome to the Forum moonwaters, I love the avatar that you posted. I am definitely a Moon and Water person. Glad to have you as a new member. Bonnie

[marksbaby63]

nanacoon, on 18 August 2009 - 01:23 PM, said:

Wanted to show you my cute little potato crop that we just harvested last night. Not bad for only planting 16 little seed potatoes a couple months ago. I've divided them up into... my baking potatoes, regular potatoes, my tiny "salt" (bad word) potatoes and the few culls that got "wounded" by the digging fork. They're mostly a Yukon Gold variety. They will taste good this Fall... as my STARCH portion of the Rice Diet. Bonnie

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[CZEdwards]

Sparticles, on 22 August 2009 - 10:34 AM, said:

They look delicious!

But I have a simple question - How do you keep them from going bad before you can gt to eat them?

I can buy taters from the grocery store that look and smell perfect, store them in a hundred different ways in my top floor apartment, and still by the end of the first and definitely by the second week they're full of eyes or turning liquidy. Have you ever smelled a rotten, oozing potato? Not a nice scent!

I mean it, I have used every hint I read on-line, with the exception of a root cellar (hard to come by in apartment living in an urban area) and nothing has worked. I now buy only the number of potatoes I need for a dish and try to buy them the day I'm planning on cooking them.

What's your secret?


Sue

Hi, Sue,

I had that problem in one of my previous apartments. Tiny kitchen, no really good, cool, dark place to store them. The cupboards were too close to the stove, the water heater and the furnace vents, so they stayed warm, even though my thermostat was set in the low sixties in the winter. I finally ended up putting my potatoes in the hall closet in one of those perforated plastic baskets (that are usually about $2 at the dollar store). Remove from the bag -- always. Try to keep them in a single layer, if possible. I also ended up scrubbing out the cabinet where they kept going bad really, really well, which helped some.

Hope this helps,

Constance

[restingtree]

Wonderful to see your potatoes. What is the significance of the term “salt potato”?

You really make me feel “at home”. I grew up in Eastern TN. It was rural but everyone worked hard and had spent a good deal of time “figuring out” how to do things. We had root cellars with most everything you mentioned except garlic.

We also stored green tomatoes in the cellar individually wrapped in newspaper and let them ripen over winter. They were quite a treat. I was sent down on Saturday to remove several for use on the weekend. And when we knew we had made it to spring without running out of food and starving … as noted by lettuce coming in, we would make fried green tomatoes with the ones that had still not ripened (having enough food to get through the winter was always a concern).

Corn was our staff of life. Our dirt was so thin there weren’t many potatoes. Small grains were a “non starter”. Instead we had “horse corn” which we soaked in fireplace ashes (lye) to produce hominy. This was our main starchy food. And if one ground the hominy, one had hominy grits. In addition dried regular corn was ground into corn meal and became the basis of corn bread.

The land was so poor we would plant a corn stalk with 5 bean sprouts around it. The beans would fix nitrogen from the atmosphere to help fertilize. We grew blue ribbon and Shelley beans. The blue ribbons were regular green beans … a little woody for today’s tastes. And the Shelley’s yielded soup beans. We considered this sustainable agriculture before there was such a term. Soup beans were our major protein source, not meat.

We had cold winters but hard freezes were rare. And as a result we would leave “live” turnips and their greens in the ground and cover them with dead leaves to insulate them. They would usually live through the winter. Then we could go out in January and dig up a plant or two and have fresh greens and turnips. Only problem was field mice would get into the leaves and offer a surprise from time to time.

The most amazing thing was my grandparents would cook and can rabbits in glass jars. There goal was to have about 60 canned rabbits in storage. They wanted at least 52 in inventory so they were assured of a meat each week in the coming year. I can remember my grandfather saying time to get more rabbit when they got down to 55. I was too young to remember how they got the rabbits. Don’t think they grew them. And it would have been awfully expensive to kill them with gun and shot. Always assumed they had some sort of trapping technique.

We had a pig a year. It ate a pretty poor diet. It was killed around Thanksgiving. Hams were made. Most of the carcass was used for sausage so the meat was preserved. The intestines were rinsed, cut into chunks, and dried. A few of these were tossed into visitor’s cornbread to take the flavor up a notch … before anyone ever heard of Emeril. Brains, lungs, etc. were cut into small pieces and a loaf prduct called "head cheese" was made. I have to say I avoided every eating a single bite of it. We were very careful with fat and grease. We religiously kept it and used it.

I can still remember first thing in the morning starting the wood fire in the kitchen stove. Taking a left over wedge of cornbread. Putting some meat drippings in a cast iron skillet and heating it. Adding the cornbread to it and frying the cut edge of the cornbread while letting it suck up the grease/fat. Did the same thing with store bread when we had it. Called it grease bread. Often had warmed hominy or hominy grits with this and any grease that did not get absorbed by the bread would be poured over the hominy or hominy grits. Sometimes a little bit of coffee would be poured into the skillet to free up the last dregs of grease. This was called red eye gravy and considered very gourmet.

Started writing and it all just poured out in a joyous memory. Nanacoon, thanks for triggering it. BTW, how are you doing? Trust all is well.

Thanks for being here.

[nanacoon]

That was some really GOOD reading Restingtree... I loved it, it wasn't necessarily GOOD memories of hard times, but it's the REAL YOU - that's why it came pouring out so easily. It's what makes YOU tick. I have many of the same memories, but not on the same level of hardship. Grits isn't a staple of this Northern area, and I never had any until I was an adult, heard about them from Fred's brother who lived in Alabama.... I found out I really like grits. Instead of rabbit, we do venison, I think I only had rabbit once in my life and I didn't know it was rabbit until after I ate it. We have a friend from the hills of Kentucky that also experienced a hard life growing up, he told about when he was a child and his father ran over a raccoon on their way home just so they would have meat for their Christmas meal. Most kitchens back then had a container that sat on the counter to collect grease in for cooking, I always LOVED the flavor of bacon grease... must have been the salt in it I craved ... and would even spread it on bread to eat. Back in those days, people did an honest days work and could burn off the excess calories, they ate enormous meals and just didn't get fat. I'm with you on bypassing head cheese, it just doesn't sound appetizing to me, but I do have two dear friends who loves it and used to make it every year. I would love to hear more of your memories -
Well you asked about salt potatoes, I thought everyone knew about salt potatoes, but I'm finding out that they're a regional dish of central New York. They are a young bite size potato that you scrub and boil in their skins in VERY salty water - 1 cup of salt to 6 cups of water. When they're done, you drain them and serve with parsley and melted butter that you dip them into and pig out on. They used to be called pig potatoes because they were used for pig food. Central New York has a long history of salt production and the Irish immigrants used to do the work in the salt springs. They brought small potatoes for their lunches and cooked them in the salty brine. Salt potatoes have only been around since the 1960's, but now they are a staple item at fairs and barbecues. It's a party food that everyone uses during the Summer months.
In answer to your question ... I am doing GREAT. I've lost a total of 31 pounds since May 22 and I'm having no problems with my meal plan. The Rice Diet is still my main food focus, and I'm very active in my local Overeaters Anonymous group. They keep my head on straight.I refrain from snacking, eating between meals, I consume only my allowed portions ... but eat most anything I want. I stay away from my binge foods which was Cheetos, Chocolate chips, Ice cream and most anything salty. It's working for me. Thanks for asking. Feel free to share more of your memories. Your Northern Friend Bonnie

[Leeney]

You two are amazing! Love reading your 'memoirs.' I'm afraid my upbringing was a bit more urban though. I grew up on the north shore of Long Island and most of our food came from the store. I do have fond memories of home grown asparagus, seckel pears, and my most favorite thing...raspberries which my mother used to make into jam. Keep those stories comin'!

Bonnie, you're doing so great! Meant to respond to you on fb, but haven't been on much lately. OA and RD...what a great combo.

[Kaylagal]

O Wow I feel like I have hit the jackpot with this thread.

My two sons hate hearing my "memory lane" stories because they say it makes them sad. They have never known what "real hard times" are (unlike their mother) I am glad I was brought up in the country (most of the time) It taught me how to be resourceful and most of all it taught me to appreciate what I have today (which still isn't much by a lot of people's standards) but plenty for me.

Bonnie, we had a cellar when I was a kid and it always had potatoes and onions which Mom had laid a door or two on the dirt floor of the cellar and they were laid on top of the doors. In tornado season I spent many hours of the nights in that cellar that smelled of dirt and potatoes. We never got blown away however. I love the small new potatoes cooked in shellie green beans....yum! In fact a can of shellie beans (rinsed) boiled with new potatoes were many meals for me when I began the ricediet back in 2006. I L O V E shellie beans.

Canned rabbit!!! Wow, now that is a new one Restingtree. However, I remember my brother when he was in high school raised rabbits to sell for meat. He still loves rabbit meat and still raises rabbits now that he is retired. I can't bring myself to eat it. Something about them being from the rodent family just doesn't appeal to my stomach. However, rabbit and squirrel were on our table many times as the meat dish. Needless to say I was vegetarian on those days. lol My favorite meal as a kid growing up was pinto beans, corn and fried poatoes. YUMMMO We had it often and that was OK by me. I could still live on it today I think. Carbs, carbs, carbs....I love them! Mom always had a big garden and she canned and canned and canned. I have canned just a few times in my life and thought it was a lot of work and seemed cheaper to buy it at the store already in a can. lol

Bonnie I remember the little aluminum pot on the stove that had a strainer tray at the top with the letters G R E A S E on the front of it. I never used it, I always got the CRISCO can out if I needed some grease. It has been probably 20 years since I have bought a can of CRISCO. So I have come a loooong way baby! haha

I think it is cool to be self-sustaining however I am most comfortable being within 10 minutes of the mall, grocery store, and Wal-Mart!

I love all your stories, neat lives, and your friendships!

Rhonda

P. S. I have a goal to be rid of 30 pounds by the end of this year. I am working on it but this week has been a disaster. Bonnie, you are doing F A N T A S T I C! I am going to try to follow your steps of cutting out the in between meal snacks.

[nanacoon]

I've been hoping you'd check in Rhonda, with a few of your recollections. Back then we didn't realize we were going through hard times, to us life was normal. It's good to hear your stories too, they bring back many memories. yes the combination of RD and OA seem to be the magic potion for me. No snacking between meals, following your portions and staying away from sodium, fat and sugar seems to be the way to go. I'm not hungry between meals and I don't miss the "bad foods." Bonnie

[restingtree]

Ate lunch today at an old restaurant on the Swedish coast ... Helmesgort. Their fish offering was grilled herring with salt potatoes, plus an unusual salad bar with green salad that was at least half julienned red and yellow peppers and a little balsamic.

The salt potatoes were great. These were yellowish and had a deep flavor. My colleagues added butter and salt but they were great straight.

See something new here on the RD post and a few weeks later run into it half way around the world. Ain't we cosmopolitan.

Thanks for being here.

[Sparticles]

Another potato question, this time directed towards RestingTree (forgot your real name, sorry). Bonnie, as a potato grower, may also be able to answer.

In the thread above you mentioned wrapping green potatoes in newspaper to ripen. Would this trick work for green potatoes mixed in a bag of store-bought russets, too?

Way too many times to count I buy a bag of taters, the bag painted dark and those awful lights in the produce department, thinking the bag looks okay, but after I get them home and opened I find so many of those spuds are green under the dirt. On another forum people said to just throw away the green ones, that they're toxic and will never be edible, that they turned green from being exposed to the sun. Maybe they're just under-ripe?

The problem got so bad that I gave up buying potatoes by the bag and started buying them individually. It comes out costing a heck of a lot more, especially when those loose ones are a buck or more a pound, but at least I don't have to throw any away.

[restingtree]

Sparticles. We would wrap green tomatoes in newspaper to ripen. If I typed potato, it was an error. Green potatoes are useles ... as far as I know.

Thanks for being here.

[MonicaC]

What a delight to read this thread and beautiful photo too. There are storytellers among us! Since we are all potato lovers here, I would like to recommend a book named The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan, one plant that he traces in history is the potato and the effects of monocultures. There is a movie based on this book that I saw on the pbs channel but you can get it on dvd. It is a gem. Oh and keep the stories coming, just love reading them. Thanks for sharing.

[Aomiel]

I just discovered this thread and have enjoyed the trip down memory lane with all of you. My husband and I have a set of 'Foxfire' books and reading your posts is a bit like reading these books.

Nana...I am so jealous of your potatoes. I've tried growing my potatoes in different locations and they always come out scabby. We can still eat them if we peel them, but they don't look very nice. Someone told me it's a virus and one that you can't get rid of because it's in the soil. Frustrating.

.

[MonicaC]

http://www.pbs.org/t...hp?plant=potato
Here is the pbs website which has a section dedicated to the book, the botany of desire.

[nanacoon]

I LOVE those Fox Fire books.

[Sparticles]

restingtree, on 30 November 2010 - 11:16 AM, said:

We would wrap green tomatoes in newspaper to ripen. If I typed potato, it was an error.

I knew about that tomato trick and did just that the year we had a place to live in that had a plot of dirt on it to grow things.

But darn about your tip not being about the potatoes. I guess I'll just have to go on buying them individually. Thanks.



Sue