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FAQ

Find the answers to your questions about potatoes here!
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Q: How do I spot a fresh potato in the shops?

Inspect and select your potatoes before buying. Choose firm smooth ones. Avoid excessively wrinkled, withered, cracked potatoes and try not to buy those ones that have a lot of sprouts or green areas.

Q: How should I store my potatoes?

Get your potatoes out of the plastic bag and into a cloth bag or natural fibre bag. Store them away from strong smelling foods such as onions. Choose somewhere cool, dark and airy - not the fridge.

Q: How long can I keep leftover potatoes in the fridge?

The advice from the Food Standard's Agency for storing cooked potatoes is that once cooked they should be cooled as quickly as possible, ideally within 1-2 hours,
and then stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Q: Can I freeze potatoes?

If you have some potatoes that need using up you can parboil them for 6 minutes, drain them and when they're cool, freeze them. They can stay in the freezer for up to a month. Defrost them in the fridge. You can use them to make mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, potato wedges, chips, dauphinoise or gratin.

TIP: Freeze the potatoes on a baking tray, so they're not touching each other, and when they're solid, pop them in a plastic bag. This stops them being stuck together so you don't have to defrost them all at once.

Q: Are potatoes fattening?

No. Potatoes are naturally low in fat, containing only 100 calories per medium potato. People often confuse the high calories in a topping with the low calorie potato underneath. So it's the fillings and toppings that you need to watch out for - not the potatoes.

Secondly, the fibre in potatoes tend to give you that nice "full" feeling so you're less likely to overeat. At the same time they pack you full of essential nutrients, which combined with exercise and a balanced diet, aids weight maintenance or loss. It's great to know that there's no reason for anyone to cut potatoes out of their diet.

Getting or staying slim is all about looking at how balanced your diet is overall - and whether you're doing enough exercise to keep trim.

Q: Are potatoes nutritious?

You bet! The potato is packed full of goodness. You'll probably know them as a well-known and excellent source of low fat energy for your brain and body. What most people don't realise is that they also provide substantial proportions of a whole range of important nutrients: Fibre, Vitamin C, potassium, Vitamin B1, B6, Niacin and Folate. Try this for size: a large jacket potato gives you more than half of the daily-recommended child requirement of Vitamin C.

Q: What is carbohydrate and why do we need it?

Carbohydrate provides fuel for the brain and is stored in active muscles to power them when you're on the go. The brilliant thing about potatoes is that compared to rice and pasta you get a barrel-load of nutrients as a bonus prize - and no fat. Perfect.

Q: What about the Atkins Diet that says cut out carbs - such as potato?

The media blitz-coverage of the Atkins diet has encouraged some people to deliberately unbalance their diet, cutting out carbohydrates and raising their fat intake. However, the British Nutrition Foundation says that one of the keys to healthy weight-loss is to eat "more carbohydrate-rich foods such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta" and that "success is more likely if...the diet is balanced and varied".

Q: How useful is the Glycemic Index to help me judge how many potatoes I should eat?

The Glycemic Index (GI) refers to how quickly a carbohydrate food is digested and how quickly it then increases blood sugar levels.

A GI score of 0-100 is allocated to carbohydrate containing foods. Some foods are quickly digested and raise blood sugar levels sharply. Such foods are allocated a high GI score: 70 and over. Other foods take longer to digest and increase blood sugar levels very slowly and steadily. They get a low GI score - below 55. Low GI foods include beans, pulses, wholegrains and most fruit and vegetables.

However, adding a protein or fat to a carbohydrate food automatically lowers the GI score, as the meal will take much longer to digest. And that's why the practicality of using the index for meal planning is controversial.

A GI score refers to the effect of eating one item of food, on its own, one at a time. In daily life we like to combine foods and potatoes are a good example of something we would serve as one part of a meal. Typically it's accompanied by a protein such as when you have a jacket potato with beans or tuna. We'd probably add a fat such as butter or olive oil to potatoes ...which just adds to the mix of food types we're enjoying.

So the idea of using an index based on the effect of eating unaccompanied potatoes may not be that useful to us in everyday life.

Meanwhile, the American Diabetes Association have made an extensive review of the research in this area and concluded that it is the amount of carbohydrate not the particular food items that

Q: Which potato should I use?

Potatoes can be split into two different kinds waxy and floury.
Waxy potatoes are translucent and feel moist and pasty. They are good at staying firm and keeping their shape.

Floury potatoes are brighter and more granular in appearance with a drier feel. They're better for dishes where you want fluffy potatoes or for mash.  Often people have a preference for liking either waxy or floury potatoes, there's no hard and fast rules as to what kind you should use so the decision is really up to you!

Q: Are there any tips for cooking my potatoes?

Try some of these great tips to get the most from your potatoes, save time and give your potatoes a delicious twist...

Remove any green areas and sprouts.
Only just cover potatoes with water when boiling, drain as soon as ready and keep that water for soups.
Add mint towards the end of boiling new potatoes for a delicious healthy alternative to butter.
Metal skewers through baking potatoes speed up cooking by as much as 25%. Brush the skins with oil and rub in sea-salt for crispy skins to die for.
Hot milk added to mash keeps it light and fluffy. Add grainy mustard, pesto sauce or crushed garlic and get a taste sensation.

Q: Should I eat potatoes that are green?

When potatoes are exposed to either artificial or natural light, they can develop a green colour due to chemical changes. These may make those green bits of the potato unsuitable for consumption but they can be avoided by simply cutting them out.

Q: Should I eat potatoes that have sprouted?

It's safe to cook potatoes that have sprouted but they may not keep well and are more likely to blacken when cooked. Whatever your choice, always remove the sprouts before using them.

Q: What kind of potatoes can I buy and when?

There are three potato seasons to look forward to during the year, offering a wide range of varieties, textures and flavours. New Potatoes, or earlies, second earlies and maincrop. Earlies are planted from January to March and are harvested as early as mid April. They are available in supermarket stores from May-July. Second earlies are planted between first earlies and maincrop potatoes. Maincrop potatoes are planted in April and harvesting continues through September and October. Both second earlies and maincrop are available in stores throughout the year.

Q: What are new potatoes?

Potato varieties are classified according to their growing season. Potatoes that are taken out of the ground earlier than the others in the crop are called "new" or "earlies". The ones that are harvested later are known as "maincrop" and are also delicious and nutritious.

Q: Why does the potato selection vary in supermarkets during the year?

There are three potato seasons to look forward to during the year, offering a wide range of varieties, textures and flavours. New Potatoes, or earlies, second earlies and maincrop. Earlies are planted from January to March and are harvested as early as mid April. They are available in supermarket stores from May-July. Second earlies are planted between first earlies and maincrop potatoes. Maincrop potatoes are planted in April and harvesting continues through September and October. Both second earlies and maincrop are available in stores throughout the year. Unfortunately the Potato Council does not hold information about where different varieties can be purchased.