Potatoes
We plant on average 120 plants a year. We store the best ones for use as fresh. Any that are remotely dodgy or that Jarvo managed to spike with the fork when digging them up we use to make a variety of other stuff for the winter. For example we will bag up roast spuds, wedgies, potato cakes and fish cakes and stick them in the freezer for when we need them. Any tiny ones we stir fry and have with a curry or cook up for the pigs. The peelings we cook for pigs and chickens and the plants themselves are great in the compost so in terms of bang for buck, spuds are one of our favourite plants and of course one of our staples. They are also pretty low maintenance.
Planting, care and maintenance
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We plant our spuds on St Patricks day the 17th March, weather permitting. We prefer white potatoes, we have no idea what type they are we just buy a huge sack from our local shop. We don't bother chitting them, basically cutting them up so that each bit has an eye, as we had a bit of a rotting disaster when we did. We plant them in pairs of trenches about 15cms deep alternating between the trenches so that they are about 40-50cms apart. This leaves us with a pile of dirt on each side of each potato which we need when covering later. We use a bulb planter to make a hole in the bottom of the trench, drop the spud in and then cover with the dirt from the planter.
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When the plants appear, perhaps 15-20cms high, we cover them as much as possible with dirt from the middle pile of earth. After another 10 days or so they will have appeared again so we cover them with the piles of dirt from the side. This process stops the spuds from emerging and getting light which turns them green.
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Harvesting
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After they have finished flowering the plants will begin to yellow and die. When they look wilted and dead we cut off the foliage at about 10cms from the ground and dump it into the compost. If you cut them too short you may have trouble finding the plant when you come to dig up the potatoes. Cutting off the foliage allows the skins to harden. We normally have 8 pairs of rows so we don't cut them all down as we don't want to have to dig up too many at one time, two rows a day is good for old knackers like us. 5 days after cutting them down you can dig them up, ideally on a sunny day and first thing in the morning. We lay them out in the sun to dry for 3 hours or so and then start work on getting them ready for storage.
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Dry Storage
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Any tiny ones we wash and stir fry for dinner that night. Any duff ones get chopped and cooked in the outside pot for animals. The good ones are brushed clean and stack in single layers in crates with newspaper in-between, 6 layers maximum. We then store these crates in a cool dark place and put a blanket over them to make sure no light gets to them. We check these crates every week to make sure that they aren't rotting, sprouting or going soft. We have varying success with this depending on how hot the summer is really. However, we can still expect to be eating fresh spuds up to Christmas on a good year. The ones that do go a bit dodgy we prep for freezing.
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Freezing
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We have a number of options for our frozen spuds. If we can save a portion of a dodgy one it will be washed and cut into wedge shapes or peeled and cut into roast potato size or even peeled and boiled for mashed potato for potato cakes or fishcakes. Before freezing, your prepped spuds must be oil blanched and then chilled. K will drop a basket into the deep fat fryer at 260c for 3 minutes if thinnish wedgies or 6 minutes for the thicker roasts. They are then dumped into a plastic container and then chilled in the fridge for half an hour or until they feel cool. They can then be bagged in portions and frozen. Defrost before cooking. Wedgies need about75 mins and the roasties about 90 minutes at 180c.
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For potato cakes we peel the spuds, cook in boiling water for 20mins or until soft then mash them. When they are cool enough to handle we add some seasoning, a splash of tobasco and some fine chopped onion. The ratios are entirely a personal choice but too much onion may burn when you cook the cakes and too much tabasco will turn your pee pink. Mix everything together and then form them into burgers with your trusty Burger press, lay out flat on a baking sheet and freeze overnight. To cook, defrost then fry in a little oil breaking them up as you do so...awesome for breakfast.
Fish cakes are potato cakes without the tabasco and with a bit of tinned fish such as salmon, tuna or sardines mixed in until it tastes good. Again we love these for breakfast.