Cool storage potatoes

[Fueling Around]

I grow a variety of garden produce and all basically pesticide free.
We bring the potatoes and carrots south with us for the winter. Carrots store amazingly well in the fridge, but I don't have decent storage for the taters.
Last year at this time we had to chuck the last of the taters as the sprouts were past a foot long and the life drained from the tubers.

Well, this year I had a brainstorm to use a cooler to try and put them into chilled storage.
Hmm using an ice pack will freeze any spuds it contacts and ruin them. Well, suspend the ice pack above the spuds?


Use adhesive cable tie anchors on the cooler lid


Hang the ice pack. Learned to put some paper towels over the spuds as the ice pack sweats and drips.


Just starting to sprout, but the tuber quality is excellent.


My wife's favorite are purple potatoes and hard to find in most stores.
Pretty decent for 3-1/2 months of storage.

When the cooler was full, I had to change the ice pack 3x a day. Now I'm down to 1-2x a day.
On days it gets cool enough at night, the cooler goes on the balcony, but those days are gone. Florida winter is measured in days.

A few more weeks and fresh Florida reds will hit the stores.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Winterrider]

I keep mine in a 5 gal bucket in the beer fridge, there are some that are starting to get soft already. Maybe to cold for them, not really sure ?

 

[cptnding]

I keep mine in a 5 gal bucket in the beer fridge, there are some that are starting to get soft already. Maybe to cold for them, not really sure ?

Not too cold just too dry. The fridge is a slow motion dehydrator for anything that's not closed up.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

My wife's favorite are purple potatoes and hard to find in most stores.

I've never seen them in the grocery stores around here, only once at a local farm store. I'll buy them again if I ever see them...

 

[Fueling Around]

I keep mine in a 5 gal bucket in the beer fridge, there are some that are starting to get soft already. Maybe to cold for them, not really sure ?

Back in Minnesota, I kept the taters in the enclosed and insulated breezeway between the house and garage. Kept it above 40° with a milk house heater.

Not too cold just too dry. The fridge is a slow motion dehydrator for anything that's not closed up.

Also too cold unless you prefer warm beer. Talked to potato growers and around 40° is the lowest for ideal storage temperature. Any lower temps start changing the starch into sugar and changing the flavor

 

[Fueling Around]

I've never seen them in the grocery stores around here, only once at a local farm store. I'll buy them again if I ever see them...

Purple potatoes is a story I hold against my wife.
Almost 30 years ago living in Seattle area, I found them in a local farm store along with the red and russet seed potato I normally grew. I ended up throwing most of the purple crop away. She wouldn't eat them and disliked the purple staining when cooked with other spuds. She wouldn't eat them for the visual. Ok lesson learned and never grew them again and stayed the red (my favorite) and russet (her staple)
Jump forward 20+ years and wife learned that purple potatoes are the healthiest due to the highest antioxidant levels in all varieties. Took a number of years to find purple seed potato in Minnesota.
Purple are vigorous potatoes. I have high alkaline soil conditions and they produce the best of the red (eat all before migrating) and Kennebec (light skinned taters in photo). Grow Kennebec as they are better storage (keepers) than russet.