Harris Teeter, a local grocery store, has 2.5 gallon snap-tite barrels
on sale for $5.35. I've got rice in one, flour in another, and egg
noodles in a third. Would it be prudent to pick up another barrel for
potato storeage? Or do potatoes not like to be in air tight barrels?

--
Cymru Llewes
Caer Llewys

Cymru Llewes wrote:
>
> Harris Teeter, a local grocery store, has 2.5 gallon snap-tite barrels
> on sale for $5.35. I've got rice in one, flour in another, and egg
> noodles in a third. Would it be prudent to pick up another barrel for
> potato storeage? Or do potatoes not like to be in air tight barrels?
>
> --
> Cymru Llewes
> Caer Llewys


Potatoes need to "breathe" or they'll rot.
No airtight barrels. Also, do not store potatoes
near fresh onions. They make each other spoil.
I store both in the fridge, well apart.
Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.

Minteeleaf

Minteeleaf surprised us with

> Potatoes need to "breathe" or they'll rot.
> No airtight barrels. Also, do not store potatoes
> near fresh onions. They make each other spoil.

So far I agree with you.

> I store both in the fridge, well apart.
> Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.

Last bit is correct, but in my experience a fridge is too cold. Just store
them, both onions and potatoes in a cool and dark place. Keep onions and
potatoes well apart.

--
Waldo


*** Is This A Dead Parrot I See Before Me ***
To respond through email remove removespam

>> I store both in the fridge, well apart.
>> Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.
>

Why store these products apart?????? I used to store them on my lazy
susan and they just didn't stay. Now I have a three level basket
hanging under a cabinet over the sink and they stay much better.
However I have my potatoes in the largest basket (bottom), Onions in
the middle sized basket (middle) and garlic in the top.

Why keep potatoes apart from onions?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Craig

Potatoes should not be stored cold. The starches are converted to sugars
and while the cold will prevent organisms attacking the sugars, it does mean
that the potato softens prematurely and you certainly can't use them for
frying as the sugars caramelise, turning black and a little bitter.

If you have potatoes like this, they do however saute rather nicely, the
sweetness is very pleasant with a light cooking in a buttered pan.


"Waldo Centini" > wrote in message
...
> Minteeleaf surprised us with
>
> > Potatoes need to "breathe" or they'll rot.
> > No airtight barrels. Also, do not store potatoes
> > near fresh onions. They make each other spoil.
>
> So far I agree with you.
>
> > I store both in the fridge, well apart.
> > Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.
>
> Last bit is correct, but in my experience a fridge is too cold. Just store
> them, both onions and potatoes in a cool and dark place. Keep onions and
> potatoes well apart.
>
> --
> Waldo
>
>
> *** Is This A Dead Parrot I See Before Me ***
> To respond through email remove removespam

Craig Watts wrote:
>
> >> I store both in the fridge, well apart.
> >> Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.
> >
>
> Why store these products apart?????? I used to store them on my lazy
> susan and they just didn't stay. Now I have a three level basket
> hanging under a cabinet over the sink and they stay much better.
> However I have my potatoes in the largest basket (bottom), Onions in
> the middle sized basket (middle) and garlic in the top.
>
> Why keep potatoes apart from onions?
>
> Inquiring minds want to know!
>
> Craig

Onions & potatoes have natural enzymes that cause each
other to spoil much more quickly when stored together.
I've experimented with this & in the case of my own spuds
& onions, have found it to be accurate. When kept apart,
they've lasted far longer. I didn't believe it until
both my grandmothers told me to experiment & find out for myself.
I did, & they were right.

Minteeleaf

Waldo Centini wrote:
>
> Last bit is correct, but in my experience a fridge is too cold. Just store
> them, both onions and potatoes in a cool and dark place. Keep onions and
> potatoes well apart.
>
> --
> Waldo

We don't have any dark cool places here; the fridge works.
It's dark & cool enough in my climate.

Minteeleaf

Graham Harden wrote:
>
> Potatoes should not be stored cold. The starches are converted to sugars
> and while the cold will prevent organisms attacking the sugars, it does mean
> that the potato softens prematurely and you certainly can't use them for
> frying as the sugars caramelise, turning black and a little bitter.
>
> If you have potatoes like this, they do however saute rather nicely, the
> sweetness is very pleasant with a light cooking in a buttered pan.


I never fry potatoes; my method works just fine for me.
The potatoes taste fresher & stay crisp.
It may depend on how cold the individual fridge is.
My potatoes last far longer chilled in the fridge
than at room temp around here.

Minteeleaf

Jan Flora wrote:

> winter. We do. We store them in a root cellar that stays 40F. and

40F is standard refrigerator temperature.

David

In article >,
wrote:

> On 19 Oct 2003 16:08:38 GMT, Waldo Centini
> > wrote:
>
>
> >
> >Last bit is correct, but in my experience a fridge is too cold. Just store
> >them, both onions and potatoes in a cool and dark place. Keep onions and
> >potatoes well apart.
>
> And if you don't have the proverbial 'cool and dark place'?
> We don't, most seasons of the year.
>
> I think they both keep better in the fridge than in a warm
> place.
>
> Pat

It sounds like ya'll aren't growing spuds as a crop, to last you all
winter. We do. We store them in a root cellar that stays 40F. and
whatever we don't eat up by next planting season gets used as "seed
spuds." (I grew 6 different varieties of spuds this year. They all did
pretty well. Our blue spuds and Artic Rose's did *really* well.)

I don't grow onions for storage, so can't comment on storing onions
and spuds together. We buy big yellow onions at the grocery store,
and will climb over the top of people to get to the Walla Walla's
when they show up here.

Jan, in Alaska

Feuer wrote:
>
> Jan Flora wrote:
>
> > winter. We do. We store them in a root cellar that stays 40F. and
>
> 40F is standard refrigerator temperature.

Thought it was 38 that is recommended.

B/

On 19 Oct 2003 16:08:38 GMT, Waldo Centini
> wrote:

>Minteeleaf surprised us with
>
>> Potatoes need to "breathe" or they'll rot.
>> No airtight barrels. Also, do not store potatoes
>> near fresh onions. They make each other spoil.
>
>So far I agree with you.
>
>> I store both in the fridge, well apart.
>> Both spoil much faster when exposed to heat & light.
>
>Last bit is correct, but in my experience a fridge is too cold. Just store
>them, both onions and potatoes in a cool and dark place. Keep onions and
>potatoes well apart.

I don't even want to think about how many potatoes I've thrown away
over the years until I gave up and started keeping them in the fridge.

Dark is easy, but in Florida cool is hard to come by except late Fall
through early Spring.

......Alan.


--
Curiosity killed the cat -
lack of it is killing mankind.

> If I had room for it, I'd buy a second fridge for cool
> storage throughout winter. The only room we have for it
> would be in the garage (our house is really tiny) and it's
> way too cold most of the winter for that idea to succeed.

If you're serious about it, you could get a temperature controller that
will control both for cooling and heating. You attach it to (usually)
a chest freezer and put in some sort of heating device also (light bulb,
reptile heater, etc). You can then keep the freezer at whatever setting
you want by running either the freezer (for cooling) or the heating device
(for heating).

These devices are made by Johnson Controls and Ranco ... most
can only either heat or cool at one setting and you have to
change the setting to be able to do both at the same time. So
you'll have to switch from cooling mode to heating mode in the
fall and vice versa in the spring. You *may* be able to find
one with two sets of plugs that will do both at once... I'm
not sure. Expect to pay between $50 and $100 for one. Here's
a Ranco example for $89:
http://www.morebeer.com/index.html?p...php3&pid=FE610

Or... you could heat/cool an entire room (garage) with a heater/air
conditional thermostat setup...

wrote:

> not be able to have cool storage (other than the regular
> fridge in the kitchen).

Dig a hole under the house for storage? (Izzat what they call a root
cellar?) If ya get deep enough it won't freeze.

David