(I originally posted this March of 2009, it is still my most popular post, getting at least 5 hits a day and for a while was at the top of the google search for “canning potatoes”)
Last Fall I bought 150 pounds of potatoes at a really good price. I have been trying to feed them to my family and while we are potato people we just haven’t been able to eat them all. The nice thing about potatoes is that they store really well. We have a little room that says nice and cold in the winter, sort of like a little root cellar. There are a couple of flaws in our little root cellar, number one is that is doesn’t stay consistently cool as the weather warms up and number two it that there is a window in the room that lets the light in.
As the temperatures have been getting warmer and the days a little longer my stored potatoes have decided that it is time to sprout. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, you can still eat a sprouted potato for a while, it is an indication that their storage days are limited. I knew we couldn’t eat 75 pounds of potatoes before they grew leaves and went bad.
So I decided to can them. I have never canned potatoes before and up until a year ago I had never even heard about canning potatoes. I figured it was worth a try if it meant that I wouldn’t lose all that food.
I scrubbed my potatoes really well and washed them twice. I didn’t want to go to the effort of peeling them, usually we just eat potatoes with the skins on anyway, so I wanted to make sure they were really clean.
I then cut them into cubes and put them into a salt water brine, it helped keep them from turning brown while I was cutting up the rest of the potatoes.
They were all boiling when I took the out and they sealed really quickly, the first batch was still boiling when I went to bed 2 hours later, and the last batch was still warm when I got up in the morning.
Here they are the next morning, cool and ready to store or eat! For breakfast I fried the potatoes with bacon, YUM! I processed 25 pounds of potatoes, it came out to 28 quarts…..I have 50 pounds to go!
****If you decide to can potatoes you have to use a pressure cooker, any other method is unsafe!****
Wow, that is very impressive! I don’t think I’d think of canning them. Now you’ll have a nice convenience food and reduce waste. Way to go!
Look at you go! Seriously! I can’t believe you… LOL
Absolutely AWESOME! Way to go for you! I would love to can some potatoes. Thanks for sharing.
That is really great! I didn’t know you could can potatoes, either. You make it look so easy. And you didn’t lose any jars? I temporarily quit pressure canning because I didn’t have my jars quite hot enough when I canned peaches, and when they processed in the canner, a few jars broke! I got frustrated, threw my hands up and quit!
Now, I’ll have to try this. We’re potato people, too.
(Back to your busy homemaking stuff again—I love it!)
Sorry I haven’t been able to comment for a few days. We were having internet issues. I love all your recent posts.
I too have a lot of potatoes that we need to use up. I don’t have a pressure cooker though, so we’ll just have to keep eatin’
*hugs*
Your potatoes look fabulous. I had never heard of canning potatoes either.
Did you save any potatoes for planting out?
Kate
Yes Kate, I did save some, and in about a month I will go ahead and plant them.
I have never heard of that before, what a great idea. First I need to work on canning some fruit…
And with the skins on! 🙂 I never peel our potatoes. That is great! Thank you for sharing that!
Hugs!
I am going to try it. I know you can buy canned potatoes in the store so why not can our own.
I just canned my first potatoes this past Saturday! They looked great too, they all sealed and are in the storm cellar. I checked on some of my canned items tonight and the potatoes now look cloudy. Just wondered if yours are the same after cooling and sitting for a few days?
Yes, the potatoes will go cloudy, it is just the starch coming out, the potatoes are just fine and safe to eat.
Thanks for the tip!
This is my first year of canning and am now in the process of canning potatoes. So far have canned about 30 quarts from our garden and have just started, 5 more buckets. The great thing is that they don't even have to be cooked, straight from the jar to the frying pan or just warm them up for dinner. I love it 🙂
Canned potatoes are my FAVORITE!!!! I put two pints of canned potatoes in a CAST IRON frying pan with half a stick of butter and cook them low and slow. Add some paprika and about half way through cooking add some Seasoned Salt. Life doesn't get any better than this!
I was inspired by your blog to can our home grown red potatoes this year. Only 9 quarts but then there are only two of us. I haven't decided whether to can the russets or hang them in a burlap bag in the cellar. Thanks for the inspiration!
That is just awesome! I am so glad that I ran across this because this could save me a lot of time in the future. Thanks for posting.
Why do you have to use a pressure cooker if you boil them first?
I don't boil them first, but some people do. Boiling them won't get them hot enough to kill the botulism that can be on the veggie. If you eat a boiled potato right away there isn't enough of the icky germs to hurt you, however, once it get in the jar and sits there the bacteria will multiply and become deadly.
The USDA recommends that any vegtable be pressure canned excepting tomatoes (because of the high acidity).
Just found your blog…love your post about canning potatoes~ I can't wait to try this….thanks!
Thanks for mentioning about the cloudy potatoes. I canned potatoes for the first time over the weekend and was worried about why it went cloudy. I think "loosly packing" them is also important. Mine got a little mashed on the bottom.
Earlier this year,, I tried canning potatoes. Sadly, my potatoes turned out to be too rubbery or too (whats the word?) chalky. I tried to mash them, but they break apart and will not mash. I tried to fry them, but they still have a bland firm taste.
I am wondering, if you should use a certain "type" of potato.
I'm back! I just finished canning my second batch of yellow golds. I noticed that I have some liquid loss, like your photos show. Should I be concerned about that? I only have 80# to go…
Frieda
Don't worry about the loss of liquid, the potatoes will be just fine. 🙂
this posting comment is a little late, but thought you might want to know about water loss in the jar.
1) Taking the jars out too quickly can affect the pressure in the jar, oozing out liquid. Wait until the water has completely stopped boiling and maybe even a few more minutes before removing them to a place that does NOT have any drafts.
2) Most common reason, tightening your bands too tightly. Tighten them as tight as you can with one hand on the band, then backwards just slightly no more than a quarter of a turn, that is just right. I used to have my husband do them thinking tighter was better, and I was always losing water in them…..it works better if you do them, and then back off a quarter turn.
Enjoy, you are an inspiration to things I already know and do, and should do much more!!!
This post was very inspiring! We canned potatoes and we will continue to do so in the future! Canned potatoes are so convenient! Thank you so much for posting about them!
Hugs!
Is the potato that you pull out of the jar the equivalent of parboiled or is it raw?
The potatoes are completely cooked, I have heard of people using them right out of the jar for potato salad (they just rinse them). I usually just warm them up in a frying pan, with a little butter or bacon grease. I wouldn’t recommend using them for mashed potatoes.
Just wanted to confirm you packed the potatos without heating up. My first attempt at canning potatos years ago ended up with mushy yucky tasting potatos. Last year my sister in law got me to try it again her way. She soaks them in a lemon juice solution first. They turned out wonderful, so easy to just fry them up or make potato salad. I just have a batch finishing up now but did not precook them but I think I did last year. Also left the skins on. Now I am reading that potatos need cooked before canning. Please tell me you have not had any trouble canning potatos the raw pack method. I always figured they would get heated up enough in the pressure cooker to kill all the bacteria.
Yes I always raw pack my potatoes and I have never had a problem with them. I have seen people do both methods, and I picked the raw pack method knowing that the potatoes would cook enough in the pressure cooker, I was afraid the potates would be too cooked and fall apart in the jars if I pre-cooked them.
Thanks. I feel a little better now. I remember years ago trying to can them and they were awful after cooking before canning, all mushy and with a funny taste. Now soaking in the lemon juice they are nice, white, and very tasty fried or in potato salad. And to think I used to throw all the little ones away as they would not keep. Now I can do up almost all my potatos and not feel wasteful. When the stored ones start going downhill I can just bake them all and freeze twice baked potatoes.
@Cheryl, how long did you soak your potatoes in Lemon Juice and did you raw pack them or blanch them prior to canning?
We grew potatoes this year. ( we have in the past) This year however we decided to can them. I read that we need to cut into 2 inches and then boil for 10. I might have cut them to small and boiled them for the 10 mins. I am pressure cooking them anyways. Will they really taste as bad as I am reading here? I have more to do tomorrow and would really appreciate any help or advice. Thank you so much
I have never boiled them first, I just raw packed them, so I don’t have first hand experience with a hot pack method. I do know that even with a raw pack the potatoes come out completely cooked, nice and soft and I can see how they might be too mushy if cooked too much before hand. Sorry I can’t be of more help 🙁
Stumbled on your page this morning (from just this page it looks wonderful and I will be following you)…I canned Yukon Gold potatoes yesterday. I did the boiling of them and then packed them and canned at the 11lbs for 35 min. They looked great last night but cloudy this morning. Good thing to know after looking on here that I didn’t totally mess them up. I thought that I was going to have to dump them all out and make potato soup today. I have 2 types of reds to do and one more yellow…they will not be boiled first.