potatoes in Japan

[Prawncrackers]

Use the last one to grow some more!!!

[prasantrin]

Use the last one to grow some more!!!

←

With my growing skills, that would most certainly spell the loss of my last potato!

I only have a plastic balcony. Can I grow 1/4 of a potato in a little container? I'd be willing to part with 1/4 of my last potato, but I'm definitely going to eat the rest of it.

[prasantrin]

I went to the Hokkaido Fair at Kobe Daimaru today and got some new (to me) potatoes! I asked specifically about frying and baking, so the man suggested (and I bought) Hokkai-kogane and toyoshiro for the former, and Red Moon for the latter. He said Red Moon were slightly sweet, but not like American sweet potatoes (darn!). If I had the language skills, I'd have asked why they don't grow American sweet potatoes in Japan. I'd eat them all the time if I could!

I've got some of the toyoshiro cut into fries and soaking in water. Some of them had soft spots aready , but I'm hoping for the best!

[prasantrin]

Some of my newly purchased (but not necessarily newly harvested) potatoes have weird black lines running through them. For example, the outside of potato might have a little black spot, then when I cut it open, from that spot there's a squiggly line all throughout the potato.

Is that just blight?

Or is it just a weird thing associated with these particular kinds of potatoes (two types--Hokkai-kogane and toyoshiro), but they're still edible?

I'm hoping it's the latter, because I really like these potatoes and I don't want to lose any!

ETA to add not-so-good cell phone picture

Edited January 29, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[helenjp]

It looks as the line is a ring around the potato...if it's brown, it might be disease, but if it's black (and the potato was a bit softish outside), it's more likely cold damage, either in the field or in storage.

[prasantrin]

Kita-akari make awesome baked potatoes. They're so creamy! I have two left that will get mashed.

[yagisanatode]

I have to agree with you Rona. I tried some Kita Akari a few month ago not knowing what their name was (my Kanji nor my Japanese is not good enough to determine which in the brand name and which is the name of the potato.)I roasted them in duck fat and they came out supurbly. Crunchy little flakes on the outside and a nice sweetness to the centre.

Cheers,

Scott

[prasantrin]

I decided not to make mashed potatoes with my last to kita akari potatoes. I'm going to do Cook's Illustrated roast potatoes with them. And then I'm going to make french fries. If they make good baked potatoes, they should make good french fries, too. . . right? (Even though I vaguely remember having the oil boil-over of the century from making french fries out of kita akari potatoes, I'm going to try again. I'll just be more careful next time.)

Better buy more before they're all gone!