Drying potatoes

[Medbury Gardens]

There's one thing i dont like and that is buying potatoes when it comes springtime and what's left in the shed starts sprouting and are not good for eating,so ive been thinking how could i make better use of the of all the spuds ive put away for winter that end up getting chucked out.
The Inca used to sun dry them but problem here is we dont get enough sun at the end of the season to do this,so is there any reason why they couldn't be put in a dehydrator??and are they any good after that??

Anyone got any thoughts?

[cornbreadlouie]

I haven't read about doing whole sliced potatoes, but I found a recipe for a "bark" which is basically just a puree dried out. Reconstitutes into mashed potatoes. http://www.backpackingchef.com/potato-bark.html

[salix]

I pressure can some (a bit of work up-front, but a real time saver later) and you can freeze cooked and mashed 'taties.

[Mark0820]

I did a Google search and found a few articles that describe how to dry potatoes, but none of the articles indicated what the dried potatoes taste like. If the Inca's sun dried them, there must be some value to it.

Slice and dry a couple of spuds, post some pictures, and let us know how they taste.

[Medbury Gardens]

I will have a play around and see how they come out.

I wondered if grating them in the food processor,squeeze the juice then put in the dehydrator would work.

Thats also a good idea of yours Willa about freezing taties or patties as we call then down here,just pull a few out and reheat them...i like it

[Mark0820]

Grating should work too. I only mentioned slicing because one of the articles said to slice 1/8 of an inch and dry. The grated potatoes would probably dry faster than sliced.

[wmontanez]

Chuño is made in Peru by letting them freeze then thaw when expose to sun, press the water out and freeze /thaw then dry again. They can store this without problems for years. I bet Richard you could recreate this by grating the potatoes, freezing, thaw, squeeze water out then freeze again and store. They are consume as a soup I believe. I boiled my small ones skin and all and used them in soups as winter come by.

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by wmontanez

Chuño is made in Peru by letting them freeze then thaw when expose to sun, press the water out and freeze /thaw then dry again. They can store this without problems for years. I bet Richard you could recreate this by grating the potatoes, freezing, thaw, squeeze water out then freeze again and store. They are consume as a soup I believe. I boiled my small ones skin and all and used them in soups as winter come by.

In yet we had always been told that its not good to refreeze food again,i know thats the case for meat,but i suppose spuds is different,i wonder why the freezing twice??

[wmontanez]

Got to read more.. see this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHekHgFIKHM

[rockhound]

MG~ The prohibition of re-freezing meat is due to certain microbes that can go into a spore-like condition. When thawed they will start to re-grow. Heat will kill them off.
I think you are safe to freeze and re-freeze potatoes, unless of course that's what killed of the Inca ;0....no seriously you're good. You can slice and dip in salt water or lemon juice or that canning stuff with vit C., then dry in drier.

[Medbury Gardens]

I'm not really keen on trying this freeze and re-freezing to make Chuño even though by the sound of it its great tasting and i'm sure my family wouldn't be that keen also after seeing me out there squashing spuds in bear feet.

As the days get a shorter i'll have a try at drying some spuds,at the moment its all about getting apples done which we have heaps of coming on.

[Medbury Gardens]

Well i gave it a go,not Chuño but seeing how this drying of potatoes goes.
I first grated them in the food processer then dropped it in boiling water for about 30 seconds,this i thought would stop it going brown,once i drained the water off i squeezed out as much more water as i could before spreading out on the drier trays,in the end the drying took about 6 hours and managed to do enough for two family sized meals.
Verdict.........a complete bloody waste of time,so i reckon i will take up Willa's idea of 'taties' or patties as we call then down here.

[Mark0820]

Richard,

Was the taste the part you didn't like? Were they tasteless?

[Medbury Gardens]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

Richard,

Was the taste the part you didn't like? Were they tasteless?

No its the fact that it took so long to only get a small amount dried,but as for the taste,i bagged it up and is still up in the pantry

[Medbury Gardens]

What ive done in the end is when i'm doing a pot of spud for mashing i'll do 2x as much as needed,then when cold i spread out what's left on plastic food wrap and pop in the freezer,should be ideal for shepherds pies etc come middle of spring.