Testing glucose levels in potatoes

[larrylee]

So there's a post on Chowhound about restaurants using diabetes test kits to determine optimum frying conditions for potatoes, based on the glucose level present.

Lauren, It's the sugar in the potatoes that determines if they will make good fries. I know of several top restaurants that test their potatoes with Diabetes testing kits to insure uniformity and quality.

Googling for "potato fry glucose" shows some research done in this area. It seems as though lower amounts of glucose will result in a lighter color fry.

www.umanitoba.ca/afs/plant_science/extension/potatoessugars.pdf

Estimating fry colour from glucose

The reducing sugars glucose and fructose are both present during storage with the concentration of glucose generally higher than that of fructose. Measurement of glucose alone will give a good estimate of the colour of french fries. The relationship between fry colour and glucose concentration in Russet Burbank potatoes is shown in Figure 4.

There's also a reference to using Diastix diabetes test kits to test the sugar content of potatoes:

The Diastix testing procedure was developed to insure that Outback achieves the desired fry color for their Aussie-Chips. This procedure is a good indicator of glucose levels in raw fry potatoes. There is a direct correlation between glucose levels and fry color. We have experienced a few inconsistent procedures that we would like to caution you about.

In terms of appearance this seems to be a good thing, but does a high level of glucose in a fry really result in a bad tasting fry? Has anyone tried this out?

And most importantly, is this referenced anywhere in the Bouchon cookbook? ;-)