What have they done to screw up potatoes?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

I considered posting this in Cooking and Baking but thought I'd like to ask a broader range of people this actually serious question.

I cook a lot. The last 2 bags of potatoes I bought cooked up very strangely. I usually make either oven roasted or pan sauteed potatoes. Usually they turn opaque and creamy colored when they are cooked. Lately, even though they are fully cooked, they do not have that creamy color, they are translucent and almost grayish. This happened with both a russet skinned and a red skinned batch.

Strangely enough, I noticed the same thing a couple weeks ago when we ate at an Outback while traveling - my mashed potatoes looked gray and weirdly translucent.

So, how have they f!@#ed up potatoes?! I know that codfish genes are in our tomatoes - did that spillover into potatoes?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. It's because of tetrahedrons and lagrange points.

Ask Originalpckelly for more details.

[patrick t. cakes]

2. im making mashed right now.

ill report back

[cbayer]

3. The last two times I bought potatoes, there were ones that were rotten in the middle.

No evidence on the outside and from two different stores.

I have *discovered* those little, whole potatoes in a can and I really like them. They seem to be much more like what I used to have.

:shrug:

[OhioChick]

10. Same here....

Also they're not "keeping" as long as they used to. :shrug:

[uppityperson]

11. that could be because we are at the end of "potato keeping storage" time

Ones in the fall are fine, but they don't keep forever.

[undergroundpanther]

19. Alot of produce besides potatos..

are seeming to go bad much faster.I don't know why.Maybe because the top soil is so spent it fails to nourish plants enough to make them hardier once picked.And depleated soil makes veggies and plants have less nutritional value too.

The minerals from the soil contribute to producing nutrient rich food (including minerals). These nutrients are absorbed by us when we consume food. Like it or not we are connected to the soil. If it's depleted, then so are we. Unhealthy, barren soil does not produce food that is abundant in nutrients. For example, between 1951 and 1999 Vitamin A was completely lost in onions and potatoes.(1)

Soil that is depleted is unable to help nutrient deficient plants overcome attacks from pests and fungus. This means more pesticides are used. Synthetic (inorganic) fertilizers have little benefit since they create insoluble mineral complexes which are difficult for plants to absorb. Dr Richard Drucker (of Drucker Labs) reports that healthy nutrient-rich crops need 70 trace minerals, but that farming is only replacing 3-5 of these.(2)

Government authorities have been aware of the problem for 70 years. In 1936 it admitted that almost all soils in the US were depleted of minerals, and this was reiterated again in 1992 at the Earth Summit.(3) What does that have to say about progress?

Another reason why soils are depleted is acid rain. The University of Maine published a study in the December 2003 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal which confirms that acid rain depletes nutrients from the soil. Authorities have long ignored scientists' reports that acid rain depletes the soil of nutrients needed for growing trees.(4)

http://digg.com/d1cRGo

[OhioChick]

26. Interesting....

Thanks for posting.

I'm noticing the same thing with bananas. I buy them green and in a few days they're turning brownish. :(

[jwirr]

22. Okay just a guess but it is the end of the season and we are hearing

about the effect of drought etc. on many crops this year. These potatoes - especially the rotten ones sound like the end of the year product that is getting very old. Used to happen when we were growing our own.

[cbayer]

31. Thanks for that. Shows how far removed I am from the food I eat, doesn't it.

I never even thought of potatoes as seasonal.


:hi:

[Sanity Claws]

4. Post this Cooking and Baking too

I don't eat a lot of potatoes so I don't know personally. However, I'm very interested in the answer. I've grown quite distrustful of our food supply and tend to buy organic when the regular item may be gmo.

[pscot]

5. Probably last years crop

They're past their prime by now. It can be hard to find a decent potato this time of year; or an onion, for that matter.

[shirlden]

13. Noticed the onions

Not a potato eater, but use lots of onion.....and they have been hard, rot quickly, and not very tasty.
Wondered, too, what was going on.

[salvorhardin]

6. It has to do with how they were stored, handled or cooked

If the potatoes were stored too cold they can turn color from gray to black. If the potatoes are handled roughly (e.g. dropped) they can take on bruising. Also, if you cook them in a reactive pan they can absorb minerals such as iron which will also discolor them.

[MattBaggins]

7. I say it has to do with where they originated from.

You have potatoes from a bad growing season that was too wet. Did they seem a bit more watery then you would normally find? The starches did not form properly and they are oxidizing giving that grey color.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

8. Easy Way to Grow Your Own Potatoes

I no longer trust our food suppliers.

We built a potato tower over the weekend and ordered our seed potatoes from http://www.gardencityseeds.net/

How to build a potato tower with limited space.
http://ft2garden.powweb.com/sinfonian/?page_id=12#comment-2256

[zeemike]

14. Welcome to DU

And I agree about the food supply
Potatoes are easy to grow even on a small piece of land.

[zeemike]

15. Ooops I thought that was 17 posts. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

17. Another way to grow potoatoes...

By stacking old tires: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanders98.html

It's a great way to recycle/reuse something that is difficult to dispose of. And no, nothing toxic leaches from them.

[Mike 03]

9. Just for fun, I'm going to post something more important than this topic, but less important

a topic than deserves to be permitted in GD and see if it gets locked and sloughed off to the Lounge.

[Jack Sprat]

12. What have they done with watermelon?

Since the seedless variety has taken over, most grocery bought watermelon has lost its' crispy taste. Some of it seems like rubber. Pink rubbery melon.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. It's all part of the big monsanto pharma science conspiracy.

They make you buy seedless watermelons so you can't plant the seeds and you have to buy more.

[crimsonblue]

24. I prefer seedless watermelon..

They are easier to eat. I can't stand food that you have to labor with to eat. It just isn't natural!

[cherokeeprogressive]

30. I have never spat out a watermelon seed in my life.

I never saw a reason for it. I also eat the whole apple, including the core.

[Uben]

18. Sounds like they froze

They do turn color when kept in a cold environment

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

33. I think your simple answer is probably the correct one. At least I hope so.

My potatoes were 2 different types bought at 2 different stores, but there are probably giant potato wholesalers who package for different purveyors. I just want my regular old potatoes back! :cry:

[madaboutharry]

20. You are not alone in your observation

I cook a great deal with potatoes and have been having a lot of problems lately. In fact, I threw half of a bag out this afternoon. I bought them maybe 10 days ago. I used half that day. I was going to make roasted potatoes this evening, but they looked horrible and I tossed them.

I have noticed other things not keeping well. It is troubling to think of what we have done to our food supply and the enviornment.

Someone posted early today, I think it was on DU, that there is a movie coming out called "Food,Inc." and that it is going to scare the crap out of us.

[Occam Bandage]

21. Have they been frozen and rethawed? That tends to destroy cellular structure.

[Contrary1]

23. I've noticed a major difference lately when I make mashed potatoes...

Using the same amount of milk I always have, they seem to turn out watery. Tonight, I used less milk, but added about one-eighth cup of non-fat dry milk also.

Tasted like they used to. :shrug:

[crimsonblue]

25. The most simple explanation

is that you screwed up your cooking of potatoes.

[Occam Bandage]

27. But the most compelling explanation

is that an evil corporation turned her potatoes into inedible frankenfood.

[tammywammy]

29. LOL! n/t

[Xipe Totec]

28. St. Patrick's Day Potato - Hilarious Youtube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THL0Uw6oSaM

[slackmaster]

32. Real potatoes became extinct due to an outbreak of blight in the early 1970s

The ones they sell now are artificial, made by Archer Daniels Midland in a secret factory in Belize.