gingersnaps

I have canned potato's for years. the recipe is in the ball canning book. if you freeze potatoes you will have to use some kind of citrus lemon, lime. to keep them from turning black. or cook them till almost done. lay them on a tray one layer at a time then put them into a sealed freezer bag

delma_paulk

My sister cans potatoes each year. She scrapes new potatoes, packs them in jars, add water and salt, cook for 20 mins, I think, and set them aside. The lids will pop when they seal after taking out of water bath. She does this year after year and they are good.

solstice3

Freezing. http://www.pickyourown.org/freezing_potatoes.htm

Canning. http://www.simplycanning.com/canning-potatoes.html

M.Elizabeth

I grew up on a farm with a large garden every year. We never canned or froze potatoes because they do keep forever in a cool, dry, dark place as novelty junkie said.

maviskw

Originally Posted by noveltyjunkie

But why freeze? Potatoes keep for ages in a cool dry dark place....

I don't know where this post came from, I can't find it on this thread. But to answer the question: Why freeze? Because potatoes do not keep forever, even in a cool dry dark place. In the spring they will sprout and turn sort of spongy. The skin gets all wrinkly, and they are hard to peel. At that stage, I no longer cook them with the skins on. That's the time to put them back out in the garden and get out your frozen and canned potatoes from last fall. Then in a few months you can reach under your potato plant and pull out a few small new potatoes. Yumm.

QuiltE

see post #3

Aquarius

You can buy frozen mashed potatoes in the store. I was thinking of doing that. Just boil some, mash them and freeze them. Or boil them for 10 minutes, then maybe freeze them.

QuiltingNinaSue

I have been so busy with tomatoes, apples, grapes, etc., from the garden, I let dh dry the potatoes on a rack and store them in the fruit pantry in shallow storage in the garage we keep just above the freezing level. He also put the onions there in a rack just for them. Thought I was done with tomatoes but I picked more tonight.... Gave away tomatoes twice this weekend (to visitors to the homestead) for slicers...frost will come, but will continue to harvest as long as we can.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to add to the discussion. It is nice to know more about the choices one can make with garden produce...I was taught never to waste good homegrown food. To share or give it away was preferred to letting it spoil in the garden or orchard.

phranny

Just pointing out, that a pressure cooker is not the same as a pressure canner.

My sister makes the fancy mashed potatoes with cream cheese and sour cream at Christmas time. She will prepare the recipe and freeze it. When it thaws, it looks a mess, but a quick stir and everything looks great again.

Also, I have made and froze twice baked potatoes for our kids when they were in college. They loved them, and they keep asking for them.

mamajack3

I have canned many jars of potatoes in my pressure cooker. I don't like them frozen though.