Potatoes

[Aint2nuts]

Our local WalMart has 10 lb bags of potatoes for 1.29 a bag! So ...if I want to take advantage of this bounty, have no room in my freezer and no pressure canner (waterbath only) and I have a dehydrator, what do I do if I buy these to preserve them?

[Josephine]

here's a pdf file that has lots of different fruit/veg, including potatoes http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/csu_dry_vegetables.pdf

[Violet]

You will need to dry them if no pressure canner or freezer space.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry/csu_dry_vegetables.pdf

If you don't blanch them they will turn black.

Adding some Fruit Fresh/ascorbic acid will help, too.

[Rezgirl]

Congrats on finding potatoes cheap. I recently had about 2 bushels of potatoes to preserve. I canned some and dehydrated the rest.

I wanted diced potatoes, so I purchased a french fry cutter off ebay. I cut the potatoes with the french fry cutter, then sliced through with a knife to make uniform cubes.

I have a double boiler type pan that has holes like a colander in the bottom. I placed the cubes in there, with water in the lower part. I let them steam for several minutes, stirring occasionaly. When they began to turn transparent, I rinsed with cold water. Rinse them well.

I then placed in the dehydrator and had it set to 125 degreees. In my dry climate, (But not as dry as yours ) they were dry in 12 hours. I only had a few turn black, and I think because they were not rinsed well. A gallon of diced potatoes equaled a quart of dehydrated.

[Canned Nerd]

I dehydrate 'shredded' potatoes for use as hash browns. They go into prepared water as I shred them so they don't turn color, drain, dehydrate and then store away in vacuum-sealed bags.

 

You could also freeze them instead by blanching and storing in serving size bags.

[HSmom]

Cube, blanche and freeze (for Southern hashbrowns)

 

OR

 

Slice, blanch and dry (for scallopped potatoes)