Surprise Potatoes Plant

I always seem to unknowingly leave one or two potatoes in the garden each year. So in the spring up pops a surprise potato plant or two.  I rotate my crops each year and this very big potato plant was in the way of other crops, so I pulled it.

I was happy to see so many potatoes. I have a hard time keeping reds from going bad. I decided to can these but I didn't want to peel them.  Some are very tiny and I couldn't just throw out the little ones. So I did some web surfing and found a couple of people who can their red potatoes peel on. Step one scrub potatoes until they shine.

I used my dollar store scrub brush and scrubbed until they were shiny. As I scrubbed a very thin skin came off the potatoes. Then I cut the bigger ones into smaller chunks and stuffed into hot quart jars with a teaspoon of salt.

Notice some of the potatoes have a reddish centers. I added boiling water to each jar and put on the warmed lids and rings. Then processed them for 40 minutes at 10 pounds pressure.

Ok all done and the potatoes are all white. Hmm, I didn't expect that. Seven quarts from a surprise potato plant, not bad.

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Purple Potato Salad

I have been craving potato salad. So I decided to use the purple potatoes I dug up a few days ago. I also wanted to try putting my pickled eggs in a salad. After washing and inspecting my potatoes, I decided I would peel them first. I really thought they would turn my hands purple but, it did not.

Here are the potatoes peeled and cut up. I put them on the stove to boil with a little salt.  When I went back to check to see if the were done, you will never guess what I saw.

GREEN WATER!! Yes, the purple potatoes turned the water green. How weird is that?

The potatoes lost some of their color but they are still purplish.

After cooling the potatoes in cold water, I put them in a bowl with chopped pickled eggs, pickled peppers, pickles, green onions, and celery. I gently mixed everything together. Next add several big scoops of mayo, some mustard, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Again gently mixed. Then I tasted it. I decided it had too much of a vinegar bite so, I added a little sugar. That did the trick.

I think it turned out good. These potatoes seem to be denser than most so they hold up well to mixing. The true test will be what my husband thinks of it tonight at dinner.

       

Dying Potato Plant

Most of the US has been harvesting their gardens for a month now. While those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest are just starting to harvest or are waiting patiently (or not) for our gardens to produce. So my garden is still doing the growing thing.

I have noticed one of my potato plants not doing very well. Something was eating it. I would check it every morning and night. I killed a couple of slugs that were near but it was still getting worse. So I decided to pull it up today. As I was moving dirt away I found three very big snails hiding. My chickens thought they were yummy!

Because I didn't do a very good job of remembering which kind of potato I planted where, I had to pull the plant out to see what kind of potatoes I would be digging up. Well they are the purple potatoes. Did you know it is hard to find deep purple potatoes in black rich soil? I had to be careful I didn't miss any.

This is what I dug up. They look like dirty rocks, don't they?

I washed one up so I could see it better. This is the first time I have grown this kind of potato.

Did you guess the inside would be purple, too? I know they say that you aren't suppose to eat raw potatoes. Well I wanted to see what this purple potato would taste like. Guess what, it taste like any other potato. Only this one made my tongue purple.

 

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