Monday, January 17, 2011

Canning potatoes

Some of my storage potatoes are starting to sprout.  Since they aren't stored in an ideal location, I'm not surprised.  These were the Kennebecs, which was a little surprising though.  They are supposed to be excellent keepers.

When I started going through the potatoes, I realized that many of the sprouts were coming from the smaller potatoes.  There were a few larger potatoes sprouting, but not as many.  I did not want to lose these wonderful potatoes, so something had to be done.  We're flying through them, but couldn't eat them quite fast enough.

Pressure canning potatoes is very easy.  Pick your own has a lovely little tutorial on it.  I must say that I simplified it a bit as I don't really see the point to pre-cooking them.  That's just me though.

I canned up 7 quarts, but there are tons more potatoes.  The plan is to continue to use the fresh as long as possible and can up whatever looks like it won't make it.

Canned potatoes are one of those things I never knew how to use until recently.  Hubby grew up with a mother who used commercially canned potatoes in many of her dishes.  I never liked the taste or texture, so I wasn't too excited to try it.  Then last year my sister in law grew too many potatoes and wanted to can them up.  I taught her how and she gave me a jar to say thank you.  It sat on the shelf for quite a while, until I worked up the nerve to use them.  To my surprise, they were actually quite good.  The potatoes stay quite firm, you could never use them for mashed potatoes, but they're great for soups, stews and braises.  I will still continue to use fresh potatoes whenever possible, but the canned aren't a terrible thing to have on hand.

This post is part of Daphne's Dandelion's Harvest Monday.

12 comments:

Robin said...

I had never thought of canning potatoes since, like you, I think commercially canned potatoes are just awful!

I will keep this in mind in case we have this issue next year!

Thanks for sharing :)

kitsapFG said...

I have done this before too and they were actually quite convenient to have on hand. Pressure canned dry beans are excellent too for fast meals although I have not done that for a while.

I just checked my potatoes Saturday and am pleased that they are storing very well this year (all varieties). I need to kick up our usage though as I still have at least 40 pounds out there to use before the spring warm up makes them all sprout.

The Mom said...

Robin, they don't have that weird taste that the commercially canned potatoes have. They just taste like cooked potatoes.

Laura, I love my canned beans as well. I need to do some red kidney beans this week.

Jane said...

I had not seen canned potatoes before. What a great way to keep from losing them. Thanks for sharing the info!

Karen Anne said...

I wonder if enough garlic would make them okay as mashed potatoes.

Leigh said...

Great post Heather! I have thought about canning some of our potatoes. Mine are sprouting pretty badly too. I think they add some sort of preservatives to commercially canned taters, which gives them that funny taste. Home canned is always tastier, no matter what the vegetable.

The Mom said...

A Kitchen Garden, I'm glad you found it useful!

Karen Anne, its more the texture that makes them difficult for mashed potatoes.

Leigh, I do wonder what makes the commercial ones taste so weird. They must add something to them.

Daphne Gould said...

I've never seen canned potatoes before either. I probably would have frozen them before I ever thought of canning.

Barbie~ said...

Interesting. Very interesting. I have never been able to keep any type of potato for more than a couple weeks.

Veggie PAK said...

Nice looking canning job! The potatoes seem to be very uniformly cut, which is good for the canning process. I'll have to check out the recipe for them. As far as using them for mashed potatoes, they've GOT to be better than what comes in a box! Thanks for sharing.

The Mom said...

Daphne,it's funny, I never would have thought to freeze them.

Barbie, the potatoes have done pretty well. I'm sure they would do better in a proper root cellar.

Veggie, I've learned over the years to be consistent with my cuts no matter what I'm doing. Hubby grew up on the potatoes from a box too. YUCK!

Emma said...

I haven't thought about trying to can potatoes. We made a batch of sweet potatoes, but since we cooked them before canning them, they came out as a mushy pulp. Maybe canning them raw will fix it. I'll definitely have to try it!