I will never again . . . (Part 4)

[MetsFan5]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I will never again permit a potato to deliquesce on my bedroom rug without asking.  Also, never again shall I witness a whole large organic cabbage to liquify.  Frightening.  Something out of science fiction.  No coleslaw for me tonight.

 

 

i actually cannot imagine the potato situation. Ages ago my ex and I went to Jamaica for two weeks and when we walked into the apartment I immediately noticed a smell. He went looking in the kitchen and yelled “go into a bathroom and close the door”. My gag reflex kicks in easily. I’m still grateful that he dealt with that. And I always check any potatoes I have. 

[Darienne]

"deliquesce".  Wow! New word for me.

 

I keep a running list of the foods that I have on hand which must be eaten or go bad by a certain time, like potatoes and avocados and you name it.  I know it sounds like an impossible task to those who don't do it...but it works for us.  I worked as a researcher for years..nay decades...and so it's second nature to me to live by my "green grocer" skills. diminished as they now are.

 

(I use the term "green grocer" because once a professor of my acquaintance (whom I didn't like much) once publicly applied this term to another prof whom I admired immensely for his incredible memory and thinking abilities.)

[TdeV]

@Darienne, tell us a bit more about your running list.

[Darienne]

34 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@Darienne, tell us a bit more about your running list.

It's really quite casual.  All incoming paper gets recycled into scrap pieces and I scribble on these in pencil.  So each Saturday, after Ed shops for the groceries, something I can no longer do (and is always full of surprise, some good...some not so good), I start a new sheet, simply scribbling down whatever foods he bought which must be paid attention to, while carrying over last weeks remainders.  And if stuff gets ignored and starts to go, I roast it and freeze it for making soup.  We eat a lot of soup.

 

So the weekly scribble might say: broccoli, cauliflower, avocados (2), asparagus, red potatoes, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, grn onions, celery, romaine, carrots...etc, etc, etc...  I look at this list every day when we have our quick morning meeting.  

 

Then I have a long established list over the cellar freezer with the contents therein, updated every few...months?...when I know it's way out of date.  Dishes are kept in those big grocery store colored plastic bags or some net or cloth bags and the legend is on the list.  For instance we are having frozen enchiladas for lunch with frozen guacamole (yes, this is the way we live now) and they are in the 'romaine bag'.  Not ideal...but it really works.  

 

I have read that North Americans throw out 30-40% of food purchased.  We throw out almost nothing.  

 

Of course, I don't work outside the house and don't have growing children.  That makes a huge difference.  OTOH, I am ancient and increasingly decrepit and we have two full time dogs. 

[Darienne]

Just now, Darienne said:

It's really quite casual.  All incoming paper gets recycled into scrap pieces and I scribble on these in pencil.  So each Saturday, after Ed shops for the groceries, something I can no longer do (and is always full of surprise, some good...some not so good), I start a new sheet, simply scribbling down whatever foods he bought which must be paid attention to, while carrying over last weeks remainders.  And if stuff gets ignored and starts to go, I roast it and freeze it for making soup.  We eat a lot of soup.

 

So the weekly scribble might say: broccoli, cauliflower, avocados (2), asparagus, red potatoes, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, grn onions, celery, romaine, carrots...etc, etc, etc...  I look at this list every day when we have our quick morning meeting.  

 

Then I have a long established list over the cellar freezer with the contents therein, updated every few...months?...when I know it's way out of date.  Dishes are kept in those big grocery store colored plastic bags or some net or cloth bags and the legend is on the list.  For instance we are having frozen enchiladas for lunch with frozen guacamole (yes, this is the way we live now) and they are in the 'romaine bag'.  Not ideal...but it really works.  

 

I have read that North Americans throw out 30-40% of food purchased.  We throw out almost nothing.  

 

Of course, I don't work outside the house and don't have growing children.  That makes a huge difference.  OTOH, I am ancient and increasingly decrepit and we have two full time dogs. 

Oh, the list is not neat and tidy and has cross-outs and re-writings.  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Darienne said:

"deliquesce".  Wow! New word for me.

 

I keep a running list of the foods that I have on hand which must be eaten or go bad by a certain time, like potatoes and avocados and you name it.  I know it sounds like an impossible task to those who don't do it...but it works for us.  I worked as a researcher for years..nay decades...and so it's second nature to me to live by my "green grocer" skills. diminished as they now are.

 

(I use the term "green grocer" because once a professor of my acquaintance (whom I didn't like much) once publicly applied this term to another prof whom I admired immensely for his incredible memory and thinking abilities.)

 

Thanks for the reminder on the avocados.

 

[heidih]

9 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

i actually cannot imagine the potato situation. Ages ago my ex and I went to Jamaica for two weeks and when we walked into the apartment I immediately noticed a smell. He went looking in the kitchen and yelled “go into a bathroom and close the door”. My gag reflex kicks in easily. I’m still grateful that he dealt with that. And I always check any potatoes I have. 

My potato misadventure was less stinky. Recently a sweet potato. I knew it was there but was having an issue about oven use with step mom in town. I wanted it roasted and skin bit crispy. Anyway it was in the pantry which is a closet with a door - cool and dark. Yup - sprouted quite vigorously at some point. l was raised to think the sprouts rendered the potato no good. So I cut part off and stuck it in a jar of water. It is looking quite grateful for its new situation. (yes those are insect skeletons on the sill - I have a spider in the upper corner that performs pest control for me. Sorry for the neck strain...

 

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by heidih (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It seems I was too late for at least one of the avocados.

 

[ElsieD]

23 hours ago, heidih said:

My potato misadventure was less stinky. Recently a sweet potato. I knew it was there but was having an issue about oven use with step mom in town. I wanted it roasted and skin bit crispy. Anyway it was in the pantry which is a closet with a door - cool and dark. Yup - sprouted quite vigorously at some point. l was raised to think the sprouts rendered the potato no good. So I cut part off and stuck it in a jar of water. It is looking quite grateful for its new situation. (yes those are insect skeletons on the sill - I have a spider in the upper corner that performs pest control for me. Sorry for the neck strain...

 

 

 

I just yesterday found a sprouted sweet potato amongst the unspoiled ones.  I might just try this.  How much did you cut off the other end?

[heidih]

7 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I just yesterday found a sprouted sweet potato amongst the unspoiled ones.  I might just try this.  How much did you cut off the other end?

It was a long one and all the sprouts were on one end so I basically cut it in half. I didn't do the toothpick thing cuz root so not come out of the cut end. Easy fun save. I still crave a well roasted one but when I get my kitchen back...

[ElsieD]

24 minutes ago, heidih said:

It was a long one and all the sprouts were on one end so I basically cut it in half. I didn't do the toothpick thing cuz root so not come out of the cut end. Easy fun save. I still crave a well roasted one but when I get my kitchen back...

 

What toothpick thing is that?

[TdeV]

Why shouldn't one eat potatoes (sweet + regular) which have sprouted?

[Tropicalsenior]

Here's a video about the whole toothpick thing.

[heidih]

20 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Why shouldn't one eat potatoes (sweet + regular) which have sprouted?

Not gonna kill you but what is repeated to you as a child tends to stick. Bon Appetit did a nice little summary here  https://www.bonappetit.com/story/can-you-eat-sprouted-potatoes

[TdeV]

Thanks. Heidi. Very strange--I've been eating potatoes with (removed) sprouts for years. No idea whether I ever got sick. 😵

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

Thanks. Heidi. Very strange--I've been eating potatoes with (removed) sprouts for years. No idea whether I ever got sick. 😵

In my experience potatoes that have really sprouted so that they’re practically a plant are so disgusting you wouldn’t want to eat them anyway. Small sprouts have never bothered me and like you I have never noticed any ill effects. 

[Katie Meadow]

I haven't seen a potato that's sprouted in a million years. Wouldn't it have to be awfully old? Clearly I don't have a root cellar. But I probably wouldn't eat it if one came my way. And yes, I did as a child stick toothpicks in a potato and sprout it on purpose but no one in my family ever suggested eating it.

[heidih]

12 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

I haven't seen a potato that's sprouted in a million years. Wouldn't it have to be awfully old? Clearly I don't have a root cellar. But I probably wouldn't eat it if one came my way. And yes, I did as a child stick toothpicks in a potato and sprout it on purpose but no one in my family ever suggested eating it.

Storage conditions are a major factor. I've seen them here with stepmother who fails to listen/comprehend when I say they need cool/dark and air flow. A plastic bag with onions! - they sprout. My sweet potato was ancient - 6 months or more?) and had the long sprout arms already with adorable itsy bitsy leaves (think baby fingernails) lusting for light. As for a rotting potato - that smell is unmistakably nasty. I've pointed it out more than once to produce guys. They are now much more meticulous - taking all out of bins, vacuuming the surfaces. Almost a bit much. They say the smell is similar to rattlesnake dens but then again "they" also say the dens smell like cucumber ??? Hardly seems similar.

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, heidih said:

Storage conditions are a major factor. I've seen them here with stepmother who fails to listen/comprehend when I say they need cool/dark and air flow. A plastic bag with onions! - they sprout. My sweet potato was ancient - 6 months or more?) and had the long sprout arms already with adorable itsy bitsy leaves (think baby fingernails) lusting for light. As for a rotting potato - that smell is unmistakably nasty. I've pointed it out more than once to produce guys. They are now much more meticulous - taking all out of bins, vacuuming the surfaces. Almost a bit much. They say the smell is similar to rattlesnake dens but then again "they" also say the dens smell like cucumber ??? Hardly seems similar.

Thankfully, that is one thing that I will never have to personally verify.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

This photo, from the Bon Appetit article linked above looks a lot like my potato bin.

I keep potatoes and onions separately in two 3 gallon crocks, in their original 5 lb bags.    Usually by the time I'm down to a couple of potatoes, they are plotting their escape.   I just thumbnail out the offending appendage and cook as usual.    No off-putting flavor or texture.    We go through enough that they don't get past this point.

[weinoo]

You know, when zoomers ANTARA SINHA AND AMIEL STANEK pen articles such as the one they penned in Bon Apetit regarding  potatoes which may have sprouted, I'm happy to pay zero attention to what they have "discovered."

 

Because this:

 

Quote

 

So can you eat sprouted potatoes?

The short answer: It depends. 

 

 

Is just so fucking banal.

[heidih]

37 minutes ago, weinoo said:

You know, when zoomers ANTARA SINHA AND AMIEL STANEK pen articles such as the one they penned in Bon Apetit regarding  potatoes which may have sprouted, I'm happy to pay zero attention to what they have "discovered."

 

Because this:

 

 

Is just so fucking banal.

A just offered a point of view , not an editor's critique. Yes some writers can go on with n point, loving the sound of their "voice". Oops maybe you will point out I am one of those

[Darienne]

7 minutes ago, heidih said:

A just offered a point of view , not an editor's critique. Yes some writers can go on with n point, loving the sound of their "voice". Oops maybe you will point out I am one of those

You?  Never!!!

[Kerry Beal]

4 hours ago, Darienne said:

You?  Never!!!

Is that the sarcastica font?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I shall never again get out of bed.  The battery of my iRobot mop is charging.

 

Reaching for some steel cut oats, I knocked over an open box of Cheerios and a can of cooking oil.  As I was dealing with the Cheerios on the floor, I somehow upset a shelving unit.  Did I mention my container of heavy cream was rancid?