I've never had any luck canning potatoes without an almost metallic after taste and smell to them. The jars would have so much starch in them almost half the jars were impossible to see the contents. So disheartened, I quit canning them at all. What was the sense of canning potatoes like that? It was a waste of time and energy.
As you may have guessed, I spend quite a bit of my time watching YouTube videos. With my strokes, I have difficulty reading and comprehending written instructions (actually most types of reading) without reading anything four or five times through or storing it in my long term memory because my short term memory is gone. So much got my photo- and phonographic memory. It's gone too. Now, I guess my memory is just like anybody else my age with CRAFT (Can't Remember Any Frigging Thing). It gives a whole new appreciation to the other anagram, KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple) me please. Whereas before, everything was easy, now it takes hard concentration to get things done. Plus, the videos are short and great for visual learners like I am now. I can always watch as many times as I need to until that AHA! moment as the info sifts through the dead gray matter in my head.
The reason I mention this is because after forty years of preserving food, I found the answer how to make home canned potatoes look and taste right. I had been taught wrong! I never bothered to look up the reason why my home canned potatoes had these issues. I just gave up because the ones that taught me (mother, Aunt Gail. and my mother) had all gone on to meet their maker. After watching these videos, I learned the importance of choosing the type of potato to an, how to presoak the starch out of them, and blanching them before jarring them up was. It was all in the prep work.
Armed with this new information, I ventured again into canning potatoes with a new hope of having shelf stable (besides dehydrated) again. Dehydrated potatoes never rehydrate to enough for French fries and potato salads for me.
I decided to try French fries and whole potatoes first. I chose two different types of potatoes for this. For the French fries, I picked 10 lbs of Russet baking potatoes. Now Russets, have a thick, rough skin and are more starchy. For the whole potatoes, I chose small, waxy red skinned potatoes because they are less starchy. In some areas, they are known as new potatoes. The preparation for both methods begin with a thorough washing and removal of dirt and bad spots. Each were put in colanders to await the next steps.
To peel the Russet potatoes, all 10lbs of them, I'm giving myself a break. After scrubbing them down to wash them, I break out my apple peeler/corer /slicer. I found out a few years ago when I bought it, that the suction cup really did grip the counter well. All I had to adjust was removing the corer and slice from the contraption and it had the potatoes peeled in short order. Because Russets are a starchy potato, I soaked and rinsed them several times after cutting them into French fries with a
1960s Ronco Veg-O-Matic. I still remember those commercials with Ron Popeil saying, "It slices. It dices, and so much more." I found it at Goodwill for the whopping price of $2.99. It was just what I needed to save time and my hand from cutting all those fries. The Vidalia slap chopper isn't deep enough for the longer lengths of the Russets. I did know what length I needed to fit upright in my quart and pint jars. I tell you, this once upon a time chef who said have knife will cook, is accumulating quite the stockpile of gadgets in this life of living post strokes.
The instruction (yes, not only in the original box, but original instruction booklet too, said to press down firmly with two hands. Doh! I don't have two working hands. My right arm is cocked and locked in a 45° due to spasticity. I thought about this for a moment. I have an isometric exercise to strengthen my triceps which has me bearing down on a table with my affected arm. Yes, I still do my therapy exercises after all these years of living post stroke. I positioned the chopper so I could use my affected arm to push the handle down with my affected arm and supporting the Veg-o-matic with my functioning. This effectively killed two birds with one stone. I got my fries cut and my potatoes cut at the same time. With the 40 odd potatoes, my triceps truly got a workout too. I left the new potatoes while or halved for canning. Both were organic.
I was playing with the blades and cut some slices too for scalloped potatoes. Sure, I usually dehydrate my potato slices for scalloped potatoes but isn't it nice to have options? My final cost was $0.46 for 25 pint jar. Of the 10lbs of whole potatoes, the cost was $0.52 for 20 pints. They were more expensive per pound.
That makes sense and cents.
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