All-Purpose Potatoes are those whose starch content is “medium” — 15-17% starch. The main feature promoted about them is that, in theory, with them you can have just one potato on hand for multiple uses. Some people say that while they’re safe to use for anything — nothing disastrous will happen — that nothing spectacular…
Black Potatoes is a generic term used for naturally dark coloured potatoes, whether they be purple or blue skinned. Generally, you can assume the flesh inside will be bluish or purplish as well, at least before cooking. Most tend to have their colour fade somewhat during cooking, though there are exceptions. Most tend to be…
Chipping Potatoes is a term used for potatoes that good for use in frying up to make chips and French Fries in America (and crisps and chips in Britain.) The potatoes will be more rounded, to give even slices. They’ll have light-coloured skin that is easily rubbed off by machines (though that skin makes them…
Creamer Potatoes are very, very young, small and tender potatoes, younger even than the potatoes sold as “new potatoes.” “Creamer” refers to a typical cooking method for them. The potatoes will be round or slightly oval, and can be any variety of potato. These days (2006), a Creamer Potato tends to be a Yukon gold…
Fingerling are long, slender, small potatoes. There are many different varieties. The skin colour can be anything from buff to purple. They are usually 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) wide, and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 1/2 cm) long, though some varieties can be up to 10 inches (25 cm)…
Industrial Potatoes are used to make: potato starch potato flour ethanol
Instant Mashed Potato Flakes © Denzil Green Many people hate Instant Mashed Potatoes. They seem to have built-in radar that enables them to spot Instant Mash before it even hits their plates. To be fair, even Instant Mashed Potato lovers will say they don’t taste the same as real mashed. But they will say that…
Instant Mashed Potato Granules © Denzil Green Instant Mashed Potato Granules are often made from potatoes that are too small to be graded, or that are otherwise rejected for other uses such as potato chips (aka crisps in the UK), but are still perfectly good. To make the granules, the potatoes have their skins steamed…
Potato chips are very thin slices of potato that are fried until crispy, then seasoned. In England, they are called ‘crisps’. Potatoes are actually specially grown to produce the most desirable chips and scientists have studied the most desirable crunch sound to be had when people eat them.
Potato flour is made from potatoes, including their skins. The potatoes are cooked, skins on, then dried and ground finely. It can be used as a thickener to some degree (though it does not thicken as well as Potato Starch, however) and in some baked goods, as it retains moisture. Potato starch is often also…
A potato ricer is reminiscent of a giant garlic crusher. It has a basket on it, in which you put your cooked potato. Then, you close the other part of the ricer, which is like a plunger, down on it and squeeze the two handles together. The potato gets pressed, causing it to be extruded…
Potato Starch is a fine, powdery thickener consisting of starch extracted from potatoes. It looks, feels and acts a great deal like cornstarch. Potato Starch is often called Potato Flour. Don’t you confuse the two, however, as right now somewhere in the world some poor soul is staring at a disaster on the stove owing…
Just as sugar beets are grown solely as raw material to make sugar from, starch potatoes are grown solely as a raw source of starch for other uses. On average, a potato is about 20 percent solid matter (the rest being water), and of that 20% solid matter, about 85% is starch. Starch processors look…
Sweet Potatoes © Denzil Green Sweet potatoes are the storage roots of a plant that is part of the morning glory family. Sweet potatoes aren’t actually even related to yams. Sweet potatoes aren’t actually related to potatoes, for that matter. Potatoes are tubers of a plant, whereas sweet potatoes are engorged storage roots. Sweet potatoes,…
Waxy potatoes have cells in them that stay together when cooked. This mean that chunks and slices will stay together when boiled or cooked, making them ideal for salads and layered potato dishes such as scalloped potatoes. You can also slice them after boiling without having the slices disintegrate on you.They are 13 to 15%…
