Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Russet Potato Skin Thickness


Shel_B

Recommended Posts

I bought a couple of russet potatoes today and baked one for dinner. I was surprised at how thin the skin seemed to be. I'd like to find a russet with thicker skin. Are there any varieties that have thick skin? Thanks!

 ... Shel


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've noticed that with some potatoes. For russets I prefer the ones that are sourced from Idaho - I buy them from the produce market because they set them out in the shipping crates and the source is printed on the ends. Sam's Club and I assume Costco also carries the bags of Idaho potatoes - the big bags are too much for me alone, so I divvy them up with neighbors...

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought a couple of russet potatoes today and baked one for dinner. I was surprised at how thin the skin seemed to be. I'd like to find a russet with thicker skin. Are there any varieties that have thick skin? Thanks!

Could it be that your potatoes were harvested when immature? As Andisienji says, they know all about spuds in Idaho !

Martial.2,500 Years ago:

If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here in the Antelope Valley in the California high desert they grow a lot of onions and some potatoes. They used to grow russets but they did not produce as well as the thinner-skinned yellow types and the Red Rose variety. They don't harvest them until after the first frost, which sometimes comes later in the year.

The onions are 'short-day' varieties and are being harvested now - driving down some of the roads you can smell them and if too close, eye-watering can occur.

An idea for next year:

I know several people who grow potatoes in "potato barrels" to which they add more soil as the plant grows vertically and one side of the barrel comes off for harvesting. If some of the younger potatoes are "picked" early on, the remaining spuds grow very large.

If you have room, you might consider growing your own.

Potato growing. Potato bags at Amazon.

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know several people who grow potatoes in "potato barrels" to which they add more soil as the plant grows vertically and one side of the barrel comes off for harvesting. If some of the younger potatoes are "picked" early on, the remaining spuds grow very large.

If you have room, you might consider growing your own.

We've grown potatoes for three seasons now, and the results get better each year. We have an 8 x 4 box about 3 feet deep. We've had better luck with the 'taters in the box than when using the barrel technique. Toots' SIL got very good results using the barrel method, but he lives in a much warmer climate.

Edited by Shel_B (log)

 ... Shel


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...