Potato Juice

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?VPOSM 27 July 2012 Potato Juice
Experimenting with the garden produce with the intention of processing for use off season, it was decided to make juice from potatoes. Traditionally, potatoes are stored in a root cellar and used as required. Needless to say they deteriorate considerably over time. My view is why not process while they are pristine, hopefully obtaining most of the nutrients.

My method; Three pound of potatoes freshly dug were cut into pieces and hand blended into a slurry. A total of three litres of water was added to make the end product thin enough to drink. The slurry was cooked in a double boiler for about half an hour.This prevents burning. The cooking causes the potatoes to thicken considerably. This was when the water was added to thin. The cooked potatoes were then poured into litre jars and pressure cooked at 15 PSI for 15 minutes.Even by adding almost three litres of water there was only three litres of juice. Experience has indicated that it is not good practice to attempt pressure canning very dense materials. The reason is it is problematic that the contents of the jars reach 250F, which is the desired canning temperate, which kills all bacteria.

[green_pea]

what would you use it for?

[diggernotdreamer]

We have a form of potato juice here called poitin, I think it could be more fun than this stuff

[boboff]

what would you use it for?

Solvite replacement?

[Odsox]

We have a form of potato juice here called poitin, I think it could be more fun than this stuff

Oh yes !
Although 3 litres of poitin wouldn't last quite so long as 3 litres of runny cold mashed potato.

[Durgan]

what would you use it for?

If I needed paste, it would be ideal. It was a disaster. I will discard. I will try other methods of preserving. Maybe the root cellar is the best method for storing potatoes, with all the associated issues. The Incas have/had a method of freezing potatoes at high altitude at night then stomping on them to remove all moisture, then drying in the Sun.

http://www.calnative.com/stories/n_incapotato.htm
"but the Incas achieved the same result by utilizing the harsh weather of the Andes. Potatoes were left outside at night to freeze. In the daytime, the hot sun evaporated the moisture, resulting in a freeze-dried potato pulp called chuño"

http://archive.peruthisweek.com/gastron ... tures-1046
"The Chuño process is the following: potatoes are selected and are left to air out so they can freeze throughout various nights. Then, it is deposited in a lake or a place with running water. After 30 days or more, saturated with water, the potatoes are extended over the ground and are stomped on to eliminate the liquid and rid it of the skin. Finally, they are left out again to air out for 10 to 15 days. This way, they are exposed the sun and freezing nights, whichwill eventually dry out the potatoes completely. "

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innova ... tions5.htm
"This product had several distinct advantages in the Incan empire, as it does today. First, it was lightweight. This allowed soldiers to carry large quantities of it with them on their campaigns with relatively little effort. Second, chuño, like all freeze-dried food, is extremely durable and can keep for years without being refrigerated. This made an excellent backup food source in case of drought, natural disaster or any other type of crop failure. Even today, in the case of crop failure, Andean highland natives will rely upon chuño to get through the difficult times. Lastly, the freeze-drying process would eliminate the bitter taste from some species of potatoes, making them much more palatable."

[mrsflibble]

sorry Durgan, but to me the only thing juiced potatoes are good for is starching tablecloths.

[boboff]

Freeze dried potato is 20p for 3 servings, why on earth bother with this?

Now wall paperpaste is a couple of bucks a throw, I think Durgan might have stumbled onto a real wealth creation activity!

[demi]

The thought of potato juice is making me boak! Why oh why would you do that? Its a crime against the potatoes!
You should just grow a variety with good stoaring properties! We've got these red skinned spuds, dont know the variety but they've stored very well all winter and we were still eating them into the spring before we started harvesting the earlies. The other white spuds we had were past their best months before the red ones.

[chickenchargrill]

You could always try to use it for some home made vodka.

[gregorach]

If your potatoes aren't keeping properly in the root cellar, either your root cellar's not working properly, or you're using the wrong varieties. I can keep maincrop potatoes with very little deterioration right through until at least March, just in an insulated box in my allotment shed, provided the weather's not absurd. I'd say that getting your root cellar working properly would be far more effective and worthwhile than all this messing about with blenders and pressure canners. People stored potatoes right through winter quite happily for centuries without using a single watt of electricity.

[Durgan]

If your potatoes aren't keeping properly in the root cellar, either your root cellar's not working properly, or you're using the wrong varieties. I can keep maincrop potatoes with very little deterioration right through until at least March, just in an insulated box in my allotment shed, provided the weather's not absurd. I'd say that getting your root cellar working properly would be far more effective and worthwhile than all this messing about with blenders and pressure canners. People stored potatoes right through winter quite happily for centuries without using a single watt of electricity.

So true, My root cellar is a compromise.It is an insulated small room in the basement of a relatively modern house with an air duct bring in cold air by gravity if you like. It is not really cold enough, except for some periods during the Winter. I cannot keep potatoes in an outside unheated shed, since the temperature during some periods in the Winter would surely freeze them.My potatoes keep reasonably well for about five months. Come April and they have long spouts. Maybe I am expecting too much. A hole in he ground would be ideal, but access during periods of heavy snow would entail too much construction for my small quantity.

[gregorach]

I've found that some varieties are much less prone to early sprouting than others... For example, last year I stored 3 varieties - Sharpe's Express (a first early), Salad Blue (a second early) and Arran Victory (maincrop), and of the 3, the Salad Blue didn't sprout nearly as early as the others.

Root cellaring in Ontario will doubtless be much more challenging than it is here... We have a much less extreme climate. The main problem I had last winter was that, for a lot of the time, it wasn't cold enough.

[JuzaMum]

Hi

You could cook and can them - you can buy tinned small potatoes here in the UK. I imagine you would can them with salted water but have no experience. Then you just heat them through when you want to eat them or add to stews etc.

JuzaMum

[yvette]

I have seen frozen mashed potatoes in the shops, though I have never eaten them - could you cook, mash and freeze at home, or would that process require lots of unwanted additives? I freeze dishes with potato topping successfully, so it might work. Any large quantity would take up a lot of freezer space I guess.