One Potato…

This is first in ‘The Potato Series’.

Here is a picture of a good-looking potato. Even though I have had this potato for over a week, it’s still firm, does not have green spots and the sprouts are not yet obvious. One way to keep your potatoes in good shape is to store them away from light in a covered basket or brown paper bag at the cool end of the kitchen. If your potato has some green spots, sprouts, or cavities that look unappealing-cut them out before cooking. It’s that easy! Look closely at the picture, you will see that the potato behind our hero is not looking quite as handsome. Not as firm, and with beginning wrinkles, he’s still fine for cooking and that should probably happen tonight before he gets soft and has sprouts.


There are many sorts of potatoes (4000 different varieties according to Wiki) and although your local supermarket won’t give you thousands of varieties to choose from, you will probably be able to choose from russets, whites, yellows (Yukon), purples or reds, like this one. Larousse Gastronomique devotes a full 9 1/2 pages to this versatile tuber. So hang on to your hat (as Queen Marie Antoinette must have done when she wore a headdress of potato flowers at a fancy dress ball... now there's a fashion idea you might want to consider!), and I’ll write again soon with some cooking ideas.