Peeling potatoes in advance

[FridgeMagnet]

Well, according to these (slightly odd) pages...

boiled potato w/out skin:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fG.html

boiled potato cooked w skin (though flesh only):
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fE.html

78g of peeled boiled potato has 5.8mg of vit C, whereas 78g of unpeeled boiled potato flesh has 10.1mg. Exactly why this is I don't know, I don't know exactly how they distinguish between skin and flesh and where they draw the line.

A 34g boiled potato skin:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fF.html
doesn't seem to have a lot of vit C in it by their definition which might imply that what they call a potato skin doesn't have a lot of potato flesh on it - that's less than 34g of peeled potato.

I suppose the cooking process could also change if you cook them with skins on, not just that you're removing bits, but I'm not sure.

Edit: bother it, just seen your post Well, it's good searching practice anyway.

 

[laptop]

I thought there was just more of all nutrients in the skin and just beneath it.

Almost all the nutrients that aren't starch (and maybe VitC) are there.

And yes, starch is a nutrient.

Facty thing of the day: unpeeled potatoes are the only foodstuff which will sustain life by itself.

 

[story]

Facty thing of the day: unpeeled potatoes are the only foodstuff which will sustain life by itself.

Feeling a bit dense now - what does mean this? ^^

 

[story]

Well, according to these (slightly odd) pages...

boiled potato w/out skin:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fG.html

boiled potato cooked w skin (though flesh only):
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fE.html

78g of peeled boiled potato has 5.8mg of vit C, whereas 78g of unpeeled boiled potato flesh has 10.1mg. Exactly why this is I don't know, I don't know exactly how they distinguish between skin and flesh and where they draw the line.

A 34g boiled potato skin:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20fF.html
doesn't seem to have a lot of vit C in it by their definition which might imply that what they call a potato skin doesn't have a lot of potato flesh on it - that's less than 34g of peeled potato.

I suppose the cooking process could also change if you cook them with skins on, not just that you're removing bits, but I'm not sure.

Edit: bother it, just seen your post Well, it's good searching practice anyway.

 

[laptop]

Feeling a bit dense now - what does mean this? ^^

If you nothing but unpeeled boiled potatoes eat, die you will not.*


If you any other foodstuff and nothing else eat, die you will.



Apparently. *Offer does not extend to old age.

 

[Herbsman.]

Almost all the nutrients that aren't starch (and maybe VitC) are there.

And yes, starch is a nutrient.

Facty thing of the day: unpeeled potatoes are the only foodstuff which will sustain life by itself.

Interesting, but where's the proof?

Surely you'd die of vitamin B12 deficiency after a few years.

 

[laptop]

Surely you'd die of vitamin B12 deficiency after a few years.

I claimed only that it was a "facty thing" And there was no claim you'd be well on such a diet.

Takes a long time to die from B12 deficiency, though... doesn't it?

 

[Herbsman.]

I claimed only that it was a "facty thing" And there was no claim you'd be well on such a diet.

Takes a long time to die from B12 deficiency, though... doesn't it?

well, it would take at least three years to get ill.

 

[Wilson]

someone told me a tale recently about a family who were so poor they only had potatoes to eat, the parents would peel them and cook them and only ate those but the kids ate the peelings as well, the parents died of starvation but the kids survived

 

[Hocus Eye.]

If you insist on peeling them, and I rarely do (unless they are really manky old potatoes) then keeping them in water is the best plan. Peeled pototoes don't go black, they go brown. This is because they become oxidised. To give the water a longer life you could pour a thin coat of cooking oil on the top I suppose.

The water should be cold tap water. Don't add salt because if you do the osmosis mentioned above will take place. Water will be extracted from the potatoes into the salt water - osmosis works from the less dense liquid to the more dense one. This explains why vegetables cooked without salt taste juicier.

 

[madamv]

Cheers for all your comments peeps.

I have given up on the peeling them idea. You've all put me off. Which was why I posted the thread in the first place, to see if it was a good idea or not.

Seeing as we havent eaten the all the ones I have peeled anyway, we obviously dont eat that many each week. Maybe I could peel them in the morning, before work, when my hand isnt so bad.

 

[story]

If you insist on peeling them, and I rarely do (unless they are really manky old potatoes) then keeping them in water is the best plan. Peeled pototoes don't go black, they go brown. This is because they become oxidised. To give the water a longer life you could pour a thin coat of cooking oil on the top I suppose.

The water should be cold tap water. Don't add salt because if you do the osmosis mentioned above will take place. Water will be extracted from the potatoes into the salt water - osmosis works from the less dense liquid to the more dense one. This explains why vegetables cooked without salt taste juicier.

Nutrients wil leach into the water, by osmosis.

I suppose you could then drink the water*. Drinking the veg water is always a good idea. Or save it to add to something else....


Madamv - I think you really should get someone else to peel those spuds for you! They're eating them, after all...


*Might taste a bit rank though - raw spuds don't taste very tasty...

 

[Guineveretoo]

Cheers for all your comments peeps.

I have given up on the peeling them idea. You've all put me off. Which was why I posted the thread in the first place, to see if it was a good idea or not.

Seeing as we havent eaten the all the ones I have peeled anyway, we obviously dont eat that many each week. Maybe I could peel them in the morning, before work, when my hand isnt so bad.

Haven't we persuaded you not to peel them at all?

 

[snoogles]

I really can't believe how many people are advocating leaving potatoes in water. I thought this kind of godawful practice went out with the ark! The only person who still does this (against all advice) is my mother-in-law, and she's half-senile anyway - and her potatoes are the worst I've ever tasted.

If you soak potatoes in water, everything soluble of which there is a higher concentration inside the potatoes than outside (i.e. ALL WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS AND MINERALS) will leach into the water. *This* is osmosis. Say goodbye to both flavour and nutrition - this goes doubly for vegetables, which generally tend to contain higher concentrations of water-soluble vitamins than potatoes.

Don't do it! You'll be left with a starchy lump with all the nutritional value of one of Jamie Oliver's hated smiley-face potato cakes...

 

[Herbsman.]

Nutrients wil leach into the water, by osmosis.

Which is why I suggested adding a small amount of salt, to prevent that from happening.

 

[madamv]

Haven't we persuaded you not to peel them at all?

You have darling. But as I said earlier, they're not organic anymore, but farm produced. So I am going to ask what stuff they put in the ground, and if its just poop, I shall get back to scrubbing. When I got my organic veg, I only peeled spuds for roasties.

But, as you say story, someone else should help with the peeling!

*tries to figure out if four is too young for a peeler

 

[spanglechick]

*tries to figure out if four is too young for a peeler

certainly not too young for scrubbing.

 

[ats]

Lindsaey Bareham ('In Praise of the Potato') suggests cooking spuds in their skins even if you're going to mash them. She reckons you should peel afte cooking, if at all.

That's always struck me as too much of a hassle.