Storing potatoes

When it comes to potatoes, you can keep them for many weeks or even months if you store them properly, ensure airflow, and avoid moisture and direct sunlight

- Shane Brody.

In the past I have mentioned the value of potatoes as an important food source. In countries like Ireland, potatoes are not only of historical and traditional importance in that they form an integral part of the Irish diet, but this is a vegetable that can supply valuable and nutritious carbohydrates and can be prepared in many interesting and different ways.

The catch with growing your own vegetables for self-consumption and even extra quantities for sale is that when crops are ready for marketing, they need to be sold quickly so that they don’t spoil.

Essentially, you usually don’t have extended periods of time to store crops. This is particularly problematic with vegetables like spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, and cabbage, but when it comes to potatoes, you can keep them for many weeks or even months if you store them properly.

Potatoes are however very sensitive to direct sunlight, environmental moisture, and temperature. Traditional growers such as the Irish and many others believe that the best place to store potatoes is in the soil in which they have grown, but this soil needs to be of a low temperature, largely free of excessive water or moisture, and free of pests.