How are your "SPUDS".

accyplus · 19-12-2004, 10:37

Over the last few weeks I seem to have a problem with the simple task of cooking the good English spud the king edward,this once versatile of spuds just wont cook,it wont
boil, it wont chip,no matter how long you cook them .
Anybody else having a problem with there edwards or is it me?.

Sara · 19-12-2004, 11:39

Quite agree with you there, but i don't think it's just edwards. I find most potatoes are the same, for quite awhile now i just use new potatoes except for roasting, then i use maris pipers but they don't seem as good as they use to. Every potatoe seems to be going mushy before half of them are cooked. If i want chips i just go to the local chippy for some as i can't stand the smell of chips cooking.

lettie · 19-12-2004, 16:31

I have also had problems with my spuds turning to mush during the boiling process, remaining hard on the inside with soup-like substance morphing from the outside. I thought it was just me and my lack of culinary skills, but I have had no problem with new potatos. Now I know. They just don't grow spuds like they used to.

Mick · 20-12-2004, 11:09

Well lettie they don't grow on trees

pendy · 20-12-2004, 18:00

Dead right - spuds are lousy these days, particularly Edwards. I always used to be sent to Mrs Morphett's shop and told "Make sure they're Edwards, Whites are no good". Now Edwards won't cook - how you can end up with a pan of mush with loads of hard lumps in it is beyond me. Do they dig them up too early? Or are they trying to force us into buying expensive designer (?organic) spuds just in order to get a decent pan of mash?

I think we should be told.

Busman747 · 20-12-2004, 23:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by lettie

They just don't grow spuds like they used to.

They probably do and I think it has more to do with the treatment received to ensure that potatoes stay fresh for a given time.

The supermarket potato is always date coded and will last until that date but always start to "turn" by sprouting or going green immediately after the use by date.

Spuds of old could be made to last weeks even months by ensuring they were kept in the dark and farmers would literally bury them in the fields so that they would keep until the wholesale price increased even into the winter months but being kept in the dark seems to have no beneficial effect now.

I always give a chuckle when seeing the size of so called "Bakers" being sold in shops, 40 years ago, they would need to be at least double the size before being classed as such.

For those that live in a potato growing area, they have the option of Pick.Your.Own. (P.Y.O.) Farms and can literally follow the tractor and select each individual tuber straight from the ground. The farmer saves labour costs and the customers get veg as good as in the 60's!

Gobsmacked · 20-12-2004, 23:09

You could always try my option of growing your own. My wife had a mad urge to try to become self sufficient a couple of years ago. It isn't working but I must admit that our home grown produce far outlasts any bought from the supermarkets, and the taste is far superior.

We grow quite a lot of soft fruit (strawberries, raspberries, gooseberrries, red currants, blackcurrants) and have even taken to preserving some as we had an excess crop.

jelly baby · 21-12-2004, 12:01

Try using Maris pipers for chips and roasts, Ormskirks for boiling & mashing.King Edwards are horrible now, they turn to mush as soon as you leave the kitchen

pendy · 21-12-2004, 12:04

Edwards turn to mush even if you don't leave the kitchen! - Good advice, but try getting Ormskirks in London - they think you're barmy, wanting to know where you spuds come from! I cart bacon, sausages, and black puddings, potted meat and all sorts of stuff back to London every time we come, but I don't think I can manage spuds as well, unless I hire a car.

jelly baby · 21-12-2004, 12:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by pendy

Edwards turn to mush even if you don't leave the kitchen! - Good advice, but try getting Ormskirks in London - they think you're barmy, wanting to know where you spuds come from! I cart bacon, sausages, and black puddings, potted meat and all sorts of stuff back to London every time we come, but I don't think I can manage spuds as well, unless I hire a car.

Maris Pipers should be available at any good supermarket, alternatively, you could try garden centres.

Sara · 21-12-2004, 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by pendy

I always used to be sent to Mrs Morphett's shop

What a blast from the past had to go to that shop myself quite a lot and was told to ask for small potatoes they go further.

Margaret Pilkington · 21-12-2004, 20:23

I just buy the washed whites, and they have been alright apart from one lot that were OK when you peeled them but were full of brown blemishes when you cut them up to boil them. I love a nice bit of mash and sausage.....with onion gravy.Mmmmmmmm!
Can almost taste it!