The best way to wash your potatoes is under running water. Either lukewarm or cool water will do. This will loosen any dirt particles on its jacket, or skin.
It may contain some soap residue, which might get onto the potato. If you don't have a vegetable scrubbing brush, find a clean sponge with a scratchy, scrubby side, and use that instead.
Sweet potatoes only need a colander rinse in cold or warm water to scrub away any dirt—hot water will cook part of the potato. Wait until you are ready to cook the sweet potatoes to give them a proper wash because if you do it too early, they will absorb too much water and can develop rot.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a minimum, potatoes should be rinsed with water before cutting for cooking. Since potatoes are firm, use a clean brush to scrub them. Do not use soap, bleach, disinfectants, or chemicals to clean produce.
Sweet potatoes grow in the ground, and skipping the cleaning step means dirt or grit can end up in your sweet potato casserole. Before cooking or cutting sweet potatoes, wash the skins and give them a scrub with a clean vegetable brush.
Wait to wash your sweet potatoes until you are ready to use them. The moisture could cause them to rot and lead to mold. If you'd like, use a dry cloth to brush off any dirt before storing, especially if it will dirty up your shelf or cabinet.
Soak potatoes in cold water to loosen the dirt. A 15- to 30-minute soak should do the trick. Lift the potatoes out of the water, and scrub them with a vegetable brush under cold running water to remove the dirt. If peeling, proceed by removing the potato skins with a vegetable peeler.
Fields White recommends soaking the potatoes in cold water first before cleaning them, to break up the dirt. "This is like soaking a dish that has dried food on it—it just loosens things up so you don't have to scrub," she says.
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes.
Boiling in hot water is just going to push around any dirt particles or sand. As far as scrubbing, just check a couple of the potatoes as a sample and if the eyes are deep they can easily trap excess dirt. If shallow you probably can get away from doing this step.
Simply rinse potatoes before preparing, using clean water from the tap. Definitely no soap is required!
The 2022 Clean 15 list now contains mango, sweet potato, and watermelon, taking the place of eggplant, broccoli, and cauliflower. Overall, nearly 70% of these fruit and veggie samples had no detectable pesticide residue after proper preparation.
You can also use a kitchen scrub brush, exfoliating gloves, or a kitchen towel, as long as they're clean.
An Unused Paint Brush
If you happen to have one lying around in your DIY cabinet, a clean, small, unused paint brush is the most effective pastry brush substitute.
It's not necessary to soak sliced sweet potatoes before frying, but if you do soak them, they will come out crispier. Soaking sweet potatoes in cold water will help release the starch, making them more available to crisp up.
Just be sure to store peeled potatoes in water for no more than 24 hours. After that, the cool refrigerator air will convert the starches in the potatoes to sugar, causing the flavor and texture of the spuds to change.
Boiling the potatoes in a salt and vinegar bath allows them to soak up all of that briny flavor before you dry them off and crisp them up in the oven. The result is a soft-in-the-center, crispy-on-the-outside potato that's loaded with flavor.
Why use salt water for soaking potatoes? There's moisture naturally found in potatoes, and moisture is drawn to higher concentrations of salt. (This is a process called osmosis.) So, if you put the potatoes in a salt water bath, that will help draw out some of their moisture, resulting in crispier fries.
I would recommend a thorough cleaning of your kitchen sink, then fill 1/2 full with cold water. Add the potatoes to soak, using a potato or vegetable brush, pick up each one and brush the eyes to remove any dirt or sand. Don't scrub too hard or the skin will go away too.
Avoid getting specks of dirt in your spuds by thoroughly rinsing in cold water and scrubbing them first. If you throw cubed potatoes into a boiling pot of water, the outside will overcook and the inside won't cook enough.
When do you wash potatoes before cooking? It's best to wash potatoes just before you use them, says the Idaho Potato Commission. Waiting to clean your potatoes is essential because they can collect bacteria after washing, says Livestrong. Leaving washed potatoes out provides ample opportunities to get them dirty again.
However, once you cut them, you break some of these cells. This releases some of the inner ingredients. By rinsing (as well as soaking) you remove these newly freed components from the potato. This prevents them from possibly interfering with your potato frying process.
#1: Vinegar Soaking Method
Add 1 cup of white vinegar and submerge your fruits and vegetables in the water. Let soak for 15 minutes. Drain the water and give the produce a quick rinse. To dry, lay the produce out on a kitchen towel until completely dry or hand dry each piece individually.