# Do you like canned potatoes?



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

So we have a lot of potatoes ready early and I'm planning on canning some as we don't have a true root cellar. But I've never eaten canned potatoes. I can lots of beef, chili, meatballs, beans and such, but am not a big fan of canned veggies, except beets. And everything always tastes a little different canned. 

Do the potatoes taste different? Is there a better way to use them if they are canned? Like roasted or fried as compared to mashed. Or in soups. I can also dehydrate some but I have quite a few dehydrated taters on hand already. 

We have red potatoes, russian fingerlings and purple skinned potatoes.

Thanks!


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## snowcap (Jul 1, 2011)

We use them mostly in soups. But they are ok drained well then fryed, never mashed them.


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## PackerBacker (Jul 17, 2013)

I love canned potatoes.

They're best drained, rinsed and fried in lard.

I also use them for making soups of all kinds, potatoes salad and roasting.


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## Kristinemomof3 (Sep 17, 2012)

We like them too. I don't like canned ones from the store.


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## hippygirl (Apr 3, 2010)

Love them buttered, with snap beans, and fried.

This was my first year growing potatoes and I ended up with 100+ lbs. Except for fresh eating and the 5lbs that I dehydrated (as a test), all were canned. Will definitely be growing them again!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

We can a few new potatoes for potato salad, peas or green beans and potatoes. We store most of our potatoes but like new potatoes out of season or when it is very hot and don't want to cook them....James


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## Hickoryrdg (Jul 17, 2013)

We love them too, fried and in stew/soup or mashed. We gobble them up, I never seem to put up enough!


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

Oh yes yes yes. Love them. I do them up in cubes, and in french fry shaped strips. We have done fried breakfast potatoes, potato salad with them so far. When it's not so hot, we'll try baking some of the fry shaped ones with olive oil and seasonings.

The purple potatoes we did were purple all the way thru and they don't hold the color when you can them. Mine turned a somewhat non-appealing odd shade, but they will taste fine I'm sure!
In this photo, you see whole small ones on far left, then the purple ones, you can see they are sort of gray, then then cubed ones.

We found the consistency of them is just right and ready for potato salad. Just drain, maybe rinse a bit to get any excess "starch" off, add your fixins' and chill. So good!

Taste wise, we love them.


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Oh, I'm jealous. Our potatoes did not do well. Too much rain and apparently they don't like our Michigan clay soil. So no potatoes for us until we add tons of compost to the garden.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Yes, I love them sliced for frying and cubed for potato salad.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Thanks guys! Very inspiring! Maybe I'll have time and energy to do potatoes today after I get the peaches canned. Wish I didn't have to work this week.....


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## COSunflower (Dec 4, 2006)

My brother and wife ALWAYS can potatoes and LOVE them. He plants Yukon Gold and Russets and was going to try some fingerlings. Vosey - I'm canning peaches this week too!!!!


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## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

Homesteader, how do you prepare yours for canning?


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

country lady, the small potatoes I leave the peel on, boil for 5 minutes, pack hot, use fresh boiling water to fill.

For cubes and sticks, I peel them and let them soak in salted water. Then I dice or slice them. Then cook for 2 minutes in boiling water, then pack hot, adding fresh boiling water to fill the jars to the appropriate headspace (don't have the book in front of me, cannot recall). Pressure canned of course, according to my altitude, so for me at 12 lbs. pressure, and again, no book in front of me, whatever the amount of time is called for.

edited update, I meant to say, for cubes and sticks, I peel them, and as each get cubed or sliced, those go into salted water to prevent browning. Once there is enough, I put them on to boil......


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## wannabechef (Nov 20, 2012)

Fried or boiled with pole beans and chicken broth.

For those who font grow tayers, watch aldis around thanksgiving and they will be on sale for next to nothing...in fact, I dont think it eould even be worth it to grow them and waste the precious space in your garden.

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 4


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

So I canned 7 quarts today, barely made a dent in what we brought in from the garden! When looking for directions today I found quite a bit of difference, even between Ball books, on the prep. I decided to steam the potatoes for 10 minutes, was the quickest and easiest. Packed hot and covered with boiling water and a pinch of salt. 

I do deviate from the USDA time as my AA manual has a list of times for veggies at elevation with a weight, 2-3,000 feet at less time than 4-7,000 feet. We're at 2800 feet so I can at 15 lbs of pressure for 20 minutes, if I had a gauge it's be at 12 lbs so makes sense to me that my canning time should be less.


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## PackerBacker (Jul 17, 2013)

wannabechef said:


> I dont think it eould even be worth it to grow them and waste the precious space in your garden.


After growing my own now for several years you couldn't give me a store bought tater. Especially if the plans are to can them.


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## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

PackerBacker said:


> After growing my own now for several years you couldn't give me a store bought tater. Especially if the plans are to can them.


We tried yukon gold potatoes this year and really liked them. Didn't make much as was so hot, but our grandson really enjoyed the planting and digging. 

LSU Ag Center recommended red potatoes for our area. We'll do a second planting in the fall and hopefully have a better harvest. The taste was much better than store bought and so far they are storing longer. If we have better success with the fall crop, I'll try canning some. We're doing a raised bed and adding layers so they don't take much room.


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## chester5731 (Jul 6, 2011)

PackerBacker said:


> I love canned potatoes.
> 
> They're best drained, rinsed and fried in lard.
> 
> .


I could not agree more. Sometimes I go half and half with lard and butter.


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## Osiris (Jun 9, 2010)

chester5731 said:


> I could not agree more. Sometimes I go half and half with lard and butter.


Oh... I'd go another half on the butter and sauteed onions! 

But I love them too. Only canned them once, but they held up for 3 years and still tasted fine.


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## Delrio (Mar 11, 2007)

PackerBacker said:


> After growing my own now for several years you couldn't give me a store bought tater. Especially if the plans are to can them.


I agree! I would rather eat no potatoes then buy that junk from the store!


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## Delrio (Mar 11, 2007)

Osiris said:


> Oh... I'd go another half on the butter and sauteed onions!
> 
> But I love them too. Only canned them once, but they held up for 3 years and still tasted fine.


They'll last even longer than that :spinsmiley:


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

Living in a 'tater-filled' area of Michigan (and having several people I know who raise 'taters) we get a lot of them, fairly inexpensively.

We can about 200# per year. If we had more shelves, we would prolly go to 300#+ canned per year.

We use them for anything we would boiled potatoes.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Man, I wish I'd seen this thread last month. I had new potatoes running out my ears. I assumed that they would taste like the store bought canned potatoes(yuck) so I just started giving them away:awh:


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

I've never liked canned potatoes. They seem so, well, wet! I do have a nice root cellar though so I put them down there. I didn't have the best harvest this year, but it'll be enough to get me through to next year. I have a bunch down in the root cellar with sprouts 18" long that have to be replaced, and today's going to be a hot day, so that may just be the project for the hotter part. 

I'm glad for those who like canned potatoes though. It gives us another option for preservation. When I don't have enough of something to last me until the next harvest, I feel like I sort of failed. I really dislike having to buy things like that at a store.


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## redneckswife (May 2, 2013)

Horseyrider said:


> When I don't have enough of something to last me until the next harvest, I feel like I sort of failed. I really dislike having to buy things like that at a store.


Me too


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## shelljo (Feb 1, 2005)

The flavor isn't quite as nice as I'd hope, but I do can and use lots of potatoes each year. We tend to use them mainly for soups. I don't like them for potato salad, too mushy for my taste.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

So I thought I should try the potatoes before I canned more this weekend. I fried them lightly with olive oil and garlic before adding them to stew. They were excellent! In tasting them before stew the texture was a little firmer than fresh, which is a positive as these potatoes tend to get flakey. The flavor was just fine! And in the stew they were excellent. 

Bring on the rest of the taters! Well, not sure I can handle canning them all, I think a little dehydrating is in my future as well.


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## Peacock (Apr 12, 2006)

YES! Absolutely. I got a bunch of russets on sale last winter really cheap, canned them for the first time in pints. They aren't great fried, at least for me. But our favorite use for them is to put them in a pot of green beans. Will definitely do it again!

My main thought when I did this was that it'd save me some prep time on weeknights when I needed to make a meal quick.

I would imagine it depends on what variety you get. Some probably hold up to canning better. Russets probably aren't the best for canning.


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## Peacock (Apr 12, 2006)

wannabechef said:


> Fried or boiled with pole beans and chicken broth.
> 
> For those who font grow tayers, watch aldis around thanksgiving and they will be on sale for next to nothing...in fact, I dont think it eould even be worth it to grow them and waste the precious space in your garden.
> 
> Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 4


Yep, that's where I bought mine. Also bought grapes at Aldi's for jam. Every now and again, their produce prices are amazing.


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## vicki in NW OH (May 10, 2002)

No, I do not like canned potatoes. I have a large root cellar. I have not had to buy any potatoes for years. Yukon Gold and Katahdin keep the best in a root cellar, at least until May. This year I had potatoes until June. In July, I start digging new potatoes.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

Happy to see this thread about canning potatoes. Folks look at me funny when I said I canned ours. 
Next year I will try some French fry cut ones as well.
Nancy


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## Bountiful Ranch (Jan 11, 2010)

I canned a batch (7qts) just to try but honesty I do not like them. In fact I will use them for extras in feeding the dogs. I am wondering why mine seem to have a chemical taste. I used distilled water not my well water. Followed all pressure canning instructions but will not do canned potatoes again. Maybe it was the potatoe. I used white potatoes.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Bountiful Ranch said:


> I canned a batch (7qts) just to try but honesty I do not like them. In fact I will use them for extras in feeding the dogs. I am wondering why mine seem to have a chemical taste. I used distilled water not my well water. Followed all pressure canning instructions but will not do canned potatoes again. Maybe it was the potatoe. I used white potatoes.


I was expecting to have a slightly weird taste and I've never had store canned potatoes so don't have any comparison. But no weird taste. My taters were only canned 2 weeks ago, so maybe it will develop? I suspect the potatoes themselves do make a difference. These were Russian Fingerlings, a yellow waxey potato. I have some purple skinned waxey potatoes I thought I'd try in cubes this weekend. More testing coming up!


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## Bountiful Ranch (Jan 11, 2010)

Maybe it was my potatoes. Then again what I was expecting was a potatoe that I could mash like mashed potatoes and add some butter. It came out needing a lot more time to cook and had a hard filling to it. I did follow all directions carefully so it could have been our potatoes. I grow about 3 varieties and these were large white potatoes. Maybe I had let them get to big.


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

I just made potato soup last night from jars of cubed shaped. The size of the cubes on mine is 1/2". I use the vidalia chop Wizard:

http://www.shopatasseenontv.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard.html

Love that thing! It has two sizes, and makes perfect little onion bits with the smaller screen.

Anyhoo, the soup was fabulous. I used a submersible whip and left a few chunks too, it was great. They were Red LaSoda potatoes.


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

Well, based on DH's suggestion and the suggestions of some folks on this forum, Last week I made potato salad from a quart of potatoes that I canned last year. I have to admit, it was great!! I will put up many quarts for this purpose this year.

Last year I had a boat load of potatoes in the "keeper" and they were splendid! - until they started to rot in June. I guess it got too warm in my storage area in the pole barn. The clue that told me I had a problem was the tiny fruit flies that began to show up. I don't think I have ever smelled anything as bad as rotton potatoes!


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## Bountiful Ranch (Jan 11, 2010)

HUM! I still have 6 quarts to experiment with. Maybe I'll wait until Oct. and make soup with them. Unfortunately, here in Eastern OK unless you have a fall garden your cellar is useless for saving. I planted so many potatoes too but we ate them all. Kind of tired of potatoes now though!


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

fwiw, we can the white potatoes and use the reds for fresh (until they run out).

says Roger from Michigan's "potatoe belt"


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

I thought I'd resurrect this thread to say how much we have LOVED canned potatoes this past year. I was hoarding our last quarts in case SHTF as we ate so many of them. I never did make mashed potatoes out of them, but they were excellent in stews, soups, fried up and roasted. 

This year gophers decimated our potatoes overnight a few weeks ago, we've harvested many little potatoes and I'm canning like mad.


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## TerriLynn (Oct 10, 2009)

I like to put a little dried minced garlic in my potatoes when I can them. It adds so much flavor! But then I love garlic.


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## PrettyPaisley (May 18, 2007)

Heck yeah I do, too. I love Yukon Gold the best. I can them in quarters but I slice them thin before cooking and fry them up in tons of butter. Yum. Fabulous comfort food on a cold day!


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## ROSEMAMA (Jan 12, 2007)

My family loves them for potato salad. They come in handy when you want to mix some up real quick! Someone else here also said they do well fried with a bit of oil, too.


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