If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably tossed a bag of potatoes into a corner of the kitchen and forgotten all about them until they resembled a science experiment. Or maybe you popped them in the fridge, only to find them tasting like damp cardboard when you decided it was time to get cooking. So where exactly should you be storing your potatoes?
How best to store your potatoes
Fortunately for all of us, food editor Ann Taylor Pittman decided to find out – not by guessing, but by actually testing. For The Kitchn, she ran a two-month side-by-side trial of common potato storage methods, using both russets and Yukon golds, all bought on the same day. And yes, she cooked and tasted them too.
She tested seven setups: a bowl, a basket, the fridge, original store packaging, a mesh bag, a paper bag, and a cardboard box. Each batch sat in a cool, dark pantry, except the fridge batch, and all were checked regularly. At the six-week mark, things still looked fine. But by week eight, the differences got sharper.
Potato storage results
The bowl and basket? Total fails. Squishy, sprouted, shriveled – straight to the compost. The fridge held off sprouting but dulled the flavor. Mesh and plastic bags kept the potatoes mostly firm, but the taste, as Ann says, was a bit, well, muted. Paper bags came close to the top, keeping things juicy and reasonably flavorful.
As it turns out, the clear winner was… the cardboard box.
Potatoes stored there – and we’re advised to have them loosely covered, in a single layer – came out taut-skinned, firm, and tasting like actual potatoes. The russets didn’t sprout at all. Pittman herself was surprised by the richness of flavor after boiling: “like a slightly concentrated baked potato,” she wrote.
Thanks Ann, your efforts have helped us all to lengthen the healthy lives of our spuds. No doubt, I’ll still leave them too long though!
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