Posted on 06/02/2025 6:00:50 AM PDT by 4Runner
Reds. Russets. Yukon Golds.
Up until about a year or so ago, you could throw together a pretty decent breakfast after frying up a potato, some onions, and parsley for home fries.
And you didn't have to do anything more to the potato than wash it and slice or chop it up.
Not anymore.
The spuds for sale at WalMart or Publix for five and six bucks a bag look like the real thing, but wait until you try to cook them.
The problem is, they won't. Or don't.
You can fry them all you want. Yet they'll stay raw and chewy and tasteless. And stick like glue to the bottom of the pan.
If you try to wait them out on a low heat, they'll burn.
If you par-boil them, they'll end up a glutinous sticky mess.
My cooking skills haven't changed. I still cook potatoes the same way I've always done.
In a seasoned cast-iron skillet. Except now, the results are darned near inedible and aggravating.
Is it plastics contaminating our crops? Is it the water? The soil? Or, is it the Chinese?
Fertilizer got expensive. So farmers are using less of it.
Great question.
All of the above?
Noticed the same thing, last time we made baby potatoes. Would. Not. Get. Done.
There’s a potato shortage in Russia. Putin had to ask Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus for extra potatoes.
I buy Walmart potatoes all the time. They’re just fine. Made scalloped, home fries and wedges (w/Baking powder) last week. They each came out great.
Interesting.
I was just thinking of getting some Yukon Golds for potato salad, and I’m thinking boiling them into submission should still work.
It’s just the tater bug. After a few weeks it
dies and become fertilizer for the next crop.
I live near potato country. The ones you’re buying now have been in storage all winter. Fresh ones won’t be around untill late summer.
All genetically modified food is same. Looks great, but has no taste.
I did smoked pork chops and fried Yukon Gold’s from Aldi last night...
Worked fine for me... Then again, I use butter for frying spuds... Never canola or other seed oils.
I noticed that this week. They were plenty cooked but had an almost plastic texture that felt funny in my mouth. They were bakers and I pitched the remaining two.
We are being slowly poisoned and starved.
I like stuffed green peppers. I went to make them and the peppers looked nice but had a super thick almost tasteless pale inner wall.
This is becoming scary. We are spending our money on nice looking garbage.
Slice, dice, and tenderize via microwave oven. Then cook as usual.
I’ve had a similar experience, but only now can I relate such to others and a possible problem. Curious.
I’ll have to pay more attention and try other varieties.
Thus far, I’ve only noticed inconsistent results from frozen hashbrowns and whole Russets used for a variety of purposes, including air fries.
Time to find a good Farmer’s Market ... and test their quality.
We tried planting a veggie garden a couple of years ago....to NO avail...the only thing we could grow, besides weeds, were cherry tomatoes.
I love cherry tomatoes...but, they can only go so far.
Interesting, that we’re all having similar experiences.
We’ll have to come back to this thread and report back with our experimentation results.
Agreed. I won’t forget.
I’ll be attentive on brands, type and sourcing (store/chain).
Honestly, other than what I believe(d) was a bad batch of frozen hashbrowns from Winco (their brand), I thought the cooking effects were just me.
I will have a huge crop of potatoes this year. I planted an entire bushel of Yukon gold and they’re growing gangbusters.
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