12/08/05 Store spuds, then see what happens

More than two dozen Southern College of Idaho students were involved in some in-home research. Each was given ten potatoes per bag and told to take them home, store them in at least eight different various locations, watch them and later report what they found. Nora Olsen of the University of Idaho Extension potato specialist says they didn't get a lot of sprouting. Greening is another matter. OLSEN "Whereas your potatoes that are sitting out on the counter top turned green or ones that were held in a closed container or a box like that greened up as well." She says many people don't realize they should store potatoes in a cool, dark, humid place, nor do they realize that for long storage the refrigerator is too cold for some spud uses. OLSEN "So what we did was we went ahead and made French fries from all the potatoes and different locations. The ones that were stored in the refrigerator at the coldest temperature actually had the darkest color and you looked at those French fries and you wouldn't want to eat them." This project is going to be repeated next spring, again with the help of CSI students. Olsen says there will likely be more sprouting of potatoes in the spring and hopefully more data that they can pass on to consumers. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott