Kitchen Garden Forum

Was reminded last weekend that I still had a couple of rows of potatoes to dig from last year(one row of Duke of York and one of Charlotte) I live in North Somerset and , as you may have heard, we have had a fair amount of rain so I did not hold much hope of finding anything but mush when the sun and a dry few days tempted me out to dig today. I did in fact recover about 22 lbs of Duke of York which, although most had started to sprout, were perfectly okay and solid. I probably threw away about 6 tubers owing to rot and slug attack and some greening.

I have a question and would seek advice on how safe the potatoes are to eat bearing mind that they were sprouting - I have read / heard somewhere that the chemical makeup of potatoes changes detrimentally when they start to sprout ( I am aware of the problems of "greening" and that such tubers should not be eaten ) Any advice would be gratefully received.

Doesn't the starch turn to sugar so they taste sweeter when they start sprouting? I ate some I dug up last week and they were very nice - they weren't sprouting though. I think they are safe so long as they haven't turned green. You could use them as seed potatoes for this year if you don't fancy eating them. They seem to be doing well despite the wet weather.

I think you could be right regarding the starch turning to sugar. I peeled and boiled some last night and the taste was really good despite what I have heard / read in the past. Will now dig the remaining row of Charlotte and see what they taste like. Thanks for your input Plumpudding.