Discussion Board

do you bake in the oven,microwave,steam,boil?i am concerned about the talk of acrylamides in baked potatoes.should i not be concerned?

You know, I nuke most of my potatoes. I have a couple dishes I bought somewhere, they are potato size & they cook the potatoes more evenly & faster, even in the microwave. Really, everything is so much more nutritious on this plan, I just dont think you can worry too much about stuff that may or may not be in the baked potatoes. Just think about what your diet was before & how much "stuff" there was in that.

Jan

There have been several discussions of that issue on Jeff's forum. Do a search for those threads. But basically Jeff said it's not worth spending ANY time worrying about. Cook 'em however you like to cook 'em!

I eat about 25 pounds of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams per week. I always boil them. I boil enough to last for about two days (six meals).

Baking tends to dry out potatoes that will be stored. I like boiling because the potatoes stay moist and because it is a way to clean the skins of any grit. (I never scrub potatoes.)

I like red potatoes for breakfast, and I cook those overnight in my small crock pot. They get lovely and done inside, and the skins get crispy where they touch the walls of the crock.

I also like red potatoes for hash browns. I bake them in the oven until they are nearly done (still nice and firm), cool them in the fridge, and chop them (with an onion) in the food processor. I add a bit of ground flax seed for binder, make patties, and cook in a nonstick skillet.

For sweet potatoes (yams) I like the small, long ones. I bake them on a cookie sheet and carry them cold for snacks.

I almost never buy baking potatoes anymore. My son works as a field applicator for a farm service cooperative, and his job is mostly applying fertilizers, pesticides, etc., to the fields of vegetable growers. Red potatoes get much less gunk applied to them. Baking potatoes get a bunch of stuff applied. Anyway, I like the reds so much better.

I eat mostly Yukon golds, and I microwave them. Works great, esp. since you're not gonna get that "Idaho baker" skin in the oven w/ them anyway, so who cares?

I discovered the Yukon golds last summer & I hardly eat any other kind now. They just have a slight buttery taste that I love & they come in a smaller size, as opposed to the giant russetts. At least at most of the grocery stores I shop at, the russetts are huge, where as the Yukons are smaller.


Jan

We have rice pressure cooker. MY wife puts few potatoes in the same cooker above the rice pan. So it is cooked by steaming and since you pretty much cook rice everyday, you can also cook few potatoes every other day that way not have to worry about going rancid/mold etc.

Burgess, what is the reason you don't scrub them? Do you use organic?

No, I don't use organic potatoes. I don't scrub the potatoes I buy because -- as a I said -- boiling removes any grit that was on the skin. The potatoes I buy seem to have been cleaned before being put on sale.

I agree. I don't worry about it at all, honestly. I'm eating the best way I can and that's that!

I'm supposed to be worried about my potatoes???

I had no idea! When did this news flash come out??? Argh! Might HAVE to have my own garden next summer (although it is so iffy here). I mean I live in Idaho, I guess I can grow some ID potatoes (cuz buying them here is next to impossible ).

Anyway, can someone tell me a great way to BAKE sweet potatoes?? I rolled a couple in foil and baked them along with my russets but they were MUSH inside.

Hmmm.... I thought that was how they were supposed to be. They have such a high water/juice content. I have found that if you leave them in the frig. for a day or so they are less mushy. You could try to take them out a little sooner, but I just work with the mush. I take them out of their peel and mash the with the back of a fork so they are like mashed potatoes, and sometimes eat them plain. Or I sprinkle them with a little cinnamon and top with apple chucks and/or sliced banana.

I'm with Silver, I prefer my sweet potatoes to be mushy. That is when they are so sweet.

Gweithgar, those crock pot red potatoes sound yummy. Do you just put them in the pot whole? Do you poke them with a fork first? Any water in the crock with them?