Tips for Selecting and Cooking Potatoes

Potatoes are everywhere in the market, but do you know how to select potatoes that taste better and are of higher quality? Tips for cooking and selecting potatoes.

Tips for Cooking Potatoes

1. Potatoes should be cooked over low heat to cook evenly and become tender. If cooked over high heat, the outside will become mushy or even crack, while the inside will remain raw.

2. Waxy potatoes fall apart easily when boiled and are difficult to keep intact even if boiled with their skin on. If using them for cold salads or diced potatoes, you can add a little vinegar to the cooking water; this will help the potatoes hold their shape after boiling.

3. Peeled potatoes should be stored in cold water. Adding a little vinegar to the water can prevent them from discoloring.

4. Soaking new potatoes in hot water for a moment before transferring them to cold water makes the skin very easy to peel.

Warm Reminder

In fast food, processed potato dishes like mashed potatoes and french fries have been oxidized during processing, which greatly reduces their nutritional value. Eating french fries can easily increase your fat intake. Moreover, the oil used for french fries is repeatedly heated to high temperatures, creating polymers, including toxic cyclic monomers which are carcinogenic. It is best to give them to babies in moderation. Potato chips and other fried snacks should also be consumed with caution.

When giving babies potato-based foods, you should reduce their intake of staple foods accordingly to avoid excessive calorie intake.

Potato and Corn Chowder

Selecting and Storing Potatoes

Selecting

Potatoes are everywhere in the market, but do you know how to select potatoes that taste better and are of higher quality?

1. Look at the Shape

Round potatoes are starchy and suitable for making salads or mashed potatoes; whereas the long May Queen variety is waxy and does not break down easily, making it suitable for curries. Avoid purchasing potatoes that are too uneven or bumpy.

2. Look at the Surface

Choose potatoes with smooth skin and shallow eyes, as they are easier to peel and you get more usable potato. Try to select large, uniform potatoes. The best ones have no dry patches or rough skin, no disease spots, insect bites, or mechanical damage, are not wilted or soft, and have no fermented, alcoholic smell.

3. Look at the Color

Buy yellow-skinned potatoes. The skin of yellow potatoes is a dull yellow, and the flesh is a light yellow. They have a high starch content, contain carotene, and have a better flavor. Also, be careful not to buy or eat potatoes with green skin, as they contain solanine, which is toxic and not destroyed by cooking, and can cause poisoning.

Potato and Avocado Salad

Storing

Potatoes should be stored in a cool place, not in direct sunlight, and there's no need to put them in the refrigerator. Temperatures that are too high can cause potatoes to sprout or rot, while temperatures that are too low can cause them to freeze and become inedible.

Potatoes can be stored at room temperature without washing. You can store apples with potatoes. Apples release ethylene gas, which causes other fruits and vegetables to ripen faster, and this gas can inhibit potato sprouting.

Potatoes should be kept in a dark corner; otherwise, their skin will turn green, which can be poisonous after consumption.

Potatoes You Should Not Eat

If potatoes are not prepared properly, they can be poisonous, so mothers should know which potatoes are unsafe to eat.

Sprouted Potatoes Are Inedible

When potatoes sprout, the area around the sprouts contains a large amount of toxic solanine, which is a neurotoxin that can suppress the respiratory center. It is best not to eat sprouted potatoes. If you must, you need to deeply cut out and peel the skin around the sprouts, soak the potato in water for 2 hours, and cook it for a longer time. Potatoes with large sprouted areas and many eyes should be discarded.

Green-Skinned Potatoes Are Inedible

The toxicity of the alkaloids in green-skinned potatoes is much higher than the toxins in the sprout eyes. If a potato just has sprouts, you can rub them off, peel the skin, and it's edible. However, green-skinned potatoes are not edible.

If you feel a numbness in your mouth after eating potatoes, it indicates that the potato still contains a significant amount of solanine, and you should stop eating it immediately to prevent poisoning.

Grilled BBQ Style Accordion Potatoes