Freezing Potatoes

[jen6889]

We had a little over half of a 10 lb bag of potatoes left over from Thanksgiving. After smelling one going bad, I went through them all and saved the ones that were still good. I thought "Oh I'll make Hash Browns out of them all and freeze them and that way they won't go to waste". What a disaster that turned out to be. I spent over 2 hours washing, peeling and cutting the potatoes and then I froze them in individual containers. My DH pulled two of the containers out last night to make hash browns and discovered they had turned black. He tried to cook them anyway, but then refused to eat them because they were black. He tells me you can't freeze potatoes. If that's true, then how can those other companies freeze them? Why is it that I buy bags of frozen hash browns? Anyhow, I know it's possible, but what did I do wrong? Why did my potatoes turn black??

[kat]

While I've never tried keeping large amounts of potatoes, I think you could either sprinkle a small amount of lemon juice or vinegar to the potatoes before freezing them to keep them from turning black (the same way a little is sprinkled over potatoes to keep them white when making large batches of potato salad).

I also looked up freezing potatoes in my book - it said you could do either of the above or else blanch the potatoes after shredding or cutting into cubes. (Blanching means to dip in hot water - usually in a basket, but you can also use a slotted spoon). It recommended 8-12 minutes per pound & then freezing immediately in an airtight container.

Good luck! Supposedly they still taste the same even if they've oxidized to a black color - hmmmm... maybe you could tell your hubby they're really those funny purple-blue ones?

[homeschoollisa]

I have frozen potatoes after blanching them. They didn't turn black, but they did have a grainy texture.

[AndersonGal]

you had to prepare the hasbrowns, potatoe cakes or whatever...THEN freeze them.

[kmarr]

I freeze potato dishes (example scalloped potatoes) but I have them completely cooked first. I have frozen left over hash browns but they were cooked. All you have to do then is warm through. I do can a lot of potatoes and we like them very well.