Ask Dr. Potato : Storage
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Q: Do I have to blanch my potatoes, to make scalloped potatoes ahead of time?

Q: Is it ok to eat potatoes that have turned green? A friend told me that they read on the internet that a green potato is poisonous and to immediately throw it out. He also said they taste bitter when green.

Q: I sliced up peeled potatoes and tossed them in oil and butter to cook them in a shallow aluminum tray. Then I covered them overnight and many of them turned black. If we bake them, are they okay to eat?

Q: Could you kindly direct me to the portion of the Commission’s website where your “Technical Reports” are listed?

Q: Can you give me some tips to fix the fry problem at my burger joint? I use the same frozen potato supplier, the same vegetable oil, the same dedicated potato fryer and yet I still get complaints. What’s up with that? Every time I work the line the potatoes seem to be just fine. The customer complaints are in order of issues that come up frequently: fries are too soggy, fries are too dark, fries from one batch are both dark and light, and fries are little bitty pieces.

Q: I have been invited to a barbeque and would like to make potato salad for the event. I need a recipe for a salad that does not require refrigeration. Do you know of one? No mayonnaise of course.

Q: We had fish fry at church last night, we got there about noon, washed and wrapped 170 potatoes in tin foil and baked them in a confection oven till they were 210 degrees F and then kept them in a cooler, until the fish fry began at 5pm. The insides had all turned brown. What did we do wrong? There must be some way diners keep baked potatoes for a long time without this happening. Any help you can give us would be appreciated.

Q: I am a grocer and I recently have been experiencing exterior cracks in my potatoes. I know it is not a defect when they are inspected but my concern is that that the bigger cuts keep consumers from buying them.

Q: I tried storing fresh cut fries overnight in water and salt, and they foamed up and damaged the fries. Sometimes this works but most time there is foam and smell. Then we have to dump the pail of fries and have to re-cut more, which is wasting a lot of potatoes. Any tips would be a big help.

Q: Is it ok to eat potatoes that have sprouted?