Rinsing potatoes helps remove excess starch, so it is recommended to rinse the potatoes before cooking. To ensure even more starch is out of the way, it's recommended that they even be quickly rinsed after boiling. We recommend using hot water for rinsing after boiling and cold water prior to boiling.
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. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
It's important to drain the potatoes immediately after cooking. Don't leave them to sit in the liquid while you finish preparing the rest of the meal. Potatoes retain their heat quite well, so putting them back in the pot after draining and putting a lid on them will keep them warm until you're ready to serve.
Pour cooked potatoes into a colander or use a slotted spoon to remove large pieces of potato from the hot water and place them in a bowl. If your recipe calls for cooled potatoes, run them under cold water or submerge them in an ice bath to speed the cooling process.
Rinse twice to remove the starch: rinse once before cooking and one more time after cooking. Start with the potatoes in a pot of cold water (instead of pre-boiling the water) to ensure even cooking from the outside in. Use a potato ricer to press the potatoes.
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.
The Mistake: Overworking the Potatoes with a Food Processor, Blender or Mixer. Too much — or too vigorous — mashing will produce gluey potatoes. Your best tool is an old-fashioned masher, fork, ricer or food mill.
If keeping potatoes in water for more than an hour, refrigerate. However, don't soak them any longer than overnight—after that, the potatoes start to lose their structure and flavor.
When an (unwrapped) baked potato is briefly left on a counter, this will allow for initial cooling. However, it's best to refrigerate unwrapped baked potatoes as quickly as possible for food safety reasons, and this will naturally and safely release any remaining internal heat.
The boiling point
The most important part here is that you use cold water instead of boiled – if you boil the water first, the outside will cook faster than the inside resulting in an uneven texture. Cubed spuds will take around 15 minutes where larger chunks or whole new potatoes will be 20-25 minutes.
Just use the potato water in addition to any plant food you may already use. If you save any potato water to use over a period of days, be sure to shake it to stir up the nutrients before giving it to your plants. Just add it to your watering can and water as you normally do. Fertilize on another day.
Potatoes grow best in well-drained, sandy soil. A poorly drained soil is more likely to produce diseased tubers. Have your soil tested. The ideal soil pH level for potatoes is somewhat acidic, between 6 and 6.5, but they will tolerate soil with pH as low as 5.
As soon as you peel the potatoes, you'll want to place them into a bowl of water so they're fully submerged, and then store the bowl of potatoes and water in the refrigerator. The water will seal off the potatoes from the air, so the chemical reaction can't occur.
You can store peeled potatoes in water in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. Peeled potatoes left out by themselves at room temperature, on a refrigerator shelf or wrapped in foil or plastic wrap will still get dark overnight, so submerge them in a bowl of water, cover and refrigerate.
We usually recommend no more than 24 hours. You can keep the potatoes from absorbing the water by making sure the water is not salted, and is chilled (you can even add ice to the water). To keep the potatoes from turning black from oxidation, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar to a gallon of water.
Cold Water Soak
A quick rinse under cold water can wash away much of the surface starch. More starch is removed from a cut potato than a whole peeled potato, because a greater surface area is exposed on cut potatoes. Soak them in cold water for as long as a few hours to remove more starch than by rinsing alone.
After you've cooked potatoes, you can store them in the fridge for up to three days. You can also freeze cooked potatoes. Boil them for at least five minutes before freezing. They will last for up to a year.
A: NO! This is the wrong way to do it and is not food safe. Cooked starch foods like potatoes can grow germs if not kept either refrigerated and cold or hot over 140º F.
Once cooked (whole or cut) potatoes can be stored in water (with or without vinegar) without becoming discolored or mushy. But, water storage isn't necessary. Refrigerate the boiled potatoes in a sealed container and use within a couple of days.
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. Instead, just start cooking potatoes for a mash, potato salad, or hash browns.
You can do nearly everything — boil, peel, and mash; stir in milk and salt — up to two days ahead. Before serving, reheat. Adding butter at the last minute makes them taste freshly mashed.
Overcooked potatoes aren't always dry and hard, as it's possible to overboil a potato too. When you do so, more water is absorbed by the potato. Then, when you go to mash them, the water releases, resulting in that sad, soupy mess you may want to toss in a compost pile far, far away.
The yolk emulsifies water and fat to create a cohesive, velvety bite, while providing a little fat and body of its own. What is this? You can add an egg yolk to nearly any existing mashed potato recipe.
Follow this tip: Begin the process of seasoning your mashed potatoes by adding salt to the water when cooking the potatoes. You won't have to add as much salt later and, most importantly, you won't find yourself with bland potatoes.
If kept warm, gently mash in heavy cream until smooth and loose again, adding more if you'd like. If cold, heat the cream in a large pot until steaming, then add the potatoes. Gently mash and whip, adding more cream as needed, until heated through and fluffy.