If you love potatoes but find yours sprouting after just a few days, freezing them could be the answer – they’ll stay fresh for up to three months and taste just as good.
We’re a bit potato-mad in our household. Whether it’s a hearty jacket spud with baked beans, mash whipped to creamy bliss, or the unbeatable roastie, we can’t get enough. We usually have a couple of tatties on standby on the kitchen counter, but if they’re not snapped up straight away, they’re banished to the pantry.
Despite the pantry being prime potato real estate, I’ve noticed my spuds start sprouting after just a few days. Rather than letting them reach this point and then consigning them to the compost heap, I decided to see if I could freeze them.
While potatoes can survive up to a year in the freezer, the food waste warriors at Love Food Hate Waste reckon they’re best scoffed within three months.
But I couldn’t just lob the starchy veg straight into the freezer; there was a bit of prep work involved. The first step was to give them a partial cook, reports the Express.
It’s best to only freeze cooked or semi-cooked potatoes, as raw ones are waterlogged. This water freezes and, once defrosted, turns the potatoes into a mushy, grainy mess.
To freeze them, I kicked off by peeling the potatoes. It’s not a must-do, but it helps because blanching is more effective without the skin.
Next, I dunked the potatoes in a pot of cold water, whacked them on the hob on high heat, and brought them to the boil. As I was dealing with medium-sized spuds, I let them bubble away for 10 minutes.
Afterwards, I shifted the potatoes into a colander to drain, then laid them out in a single layer on kitchen paper towels to soak up any lingering moisture. Next, I chopped them into chunky rounds.
I neatly arranged the potatoes in a single layer on a baking tray and popped them into the freezer for a four-hour stint.
Post the four-hour mark, the spuds were frozen solid and ready to be relocated to a freezer-friendly storage bag.
A month on from freezing the potatoes, I took out half of them to thaw in the fridge overnight, then finished off their cooking journey in boiling water until they were perfectly done. The taste was just as if I’d stored them in the pantry.
Three months later, I cooked up the remaining half of the potatoes, and they still tasted as fresh as a daisy.
Not only does giving your potatoes a freeze keep them fresher for longer, but it’s also a real time-saver when you’re prepping your spuds for cooking.
