Refrigerating regular or sweet potatoes – yes or no?

Potatoes

Potatoes are an appropriate topic for St. Patrick’s Day, so we thought we’d highlight a simple question that Food Republic recently asked: Do you need to refrigerate potatoes? And here’s the simple answer: No. Potatoes don’t spoil, and, in fact, if put into a refrigerator they will develop a bitter taste. The best way to store potatoes is also simple, “Potatoes should be stored outside of the fridge around 50 degrees in a dark, dry place if possible, but no big deal if it’s a little warmer. “

And what about sweet potatoes? Just coincidentally, The Feed recently answered this question in “We Prove It: The Best Way to Store Sweet Potatoes.” Same answer – if refrigerated the sweet potatoes will develop a tough center when cooked. So “keep them in a cool, dark place.”

And Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

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2 Comments

  • MammaMiaCooks  on  March 17, 2013

    Don't forget to keep them in a separate place from your onions or the gas given off by one of causes the other to go off faster (I think it is the potatoes that cause the onions to go off, but don't quote me)

  • Aggie92  on  March 29, 2013

    I took a horticulture class in college and for a lab exercise we made French fries with cellar stored potatoes and refrigerator stored potatoes. The ones from the fridge we noticeably sweet and tasted rather awful. The near freezing temperature of the fridge caused the starches to convert to sugars.

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