The benefits and harms of potatoes, how to store them properly

It's hard to find anyone in the Slavic countries who hasn't tried potatoes. This vegetable is a staple in almost every family. It's cooked on weekdays and holidays, planted in the spring in almost every garden, and stocked up for the winter.

Description and characteristics of potatoes

Potatoes are annual crops used for food. They grow as bushes with 3-4 stems. Potato tubers, which can contain from 5 to 15 or more tubers per bush, are eaten. Potatoes are heat-loving and frost-intolerant. For tubers to form, soil temperatures of 15-19 degrees Celsius are required. Potatoes are demanding in terms of watering and soil composition.

According to the rate of ripening, crop varieties are divided into the following groups:

• early,
• mid-early,
• mid-season,
• mid-late,
• late.

According to use, the culture is divided into:

• Table grapes – used for human consumption. These varieties have excellent flavor and a high shelf life;
• universal – used for food and also for technical purposes.

To get a good harvest, it is best to plant several varieties to have vegetables with different flavors all year round.

Potatoes - benefits

This vegetable is not only quite nutritious but also healthy. The main component of potatoes is starch. They also contain a large amount of amino acids, minerals, and vitamins. Fiber and vitamin C also make this product quite essential for nutrition.

Potatoes are incredibly beneficial for people with metabolic disorders and vitamin deficiencies. The alkali contained in potatoes neutralizes acids, making them beneficial for people with conditions such as arthritis, gout, and kidney failure.

To get the maximum benefit from the vegetable, it should be boiled in its skin or baked in the oven.

Raw potatoes and their juice are also extremely beneficial. Raw potatoes treat gastrointestinal ailments, erysipelas, and fungal infections, and are helpful for eczema and coughs, reducing swelling and inflammation. Potato juice can create a soft lining in the stomach that heals ulcers and helps manage gastritis and hyperacidity.

Potatoes are harmful

The high starch content makes this product unhealthy for certain groups of the population. People prone to obesity and those with diabetes should limit their potato consumption.

Eating green potatoes can cause food poisoning. The green parts contain solanine, which is toxic to humans. Potatoes left over until spring can cause illness, as they continue to produce the same solanine. Therefore, when preparing food, it is recommended to peel as much of the potato as possible, leaving the core intact.

What determines the benefits and harms of potatoes?

The benefits and harms of a vegetable can depend on its composition. The composition of the crop is constantly changing, depending on the ripening time and shelf life of the tuber. When potatoes have a balanced level of vitamins, sugars, microelements, and starch, they are considered healthy. If they are unripe or have been stored for a long time and solanine or chlorophyll has formed, they become unhealthy. Importantly, solanine and chlorophyll are not destroyed during cooking.

The cooking method also influences the health benefits of potatoes. Boiled or baked potatoes in their skins without oil are considered healthy. However, if they are fried in a large amount of oil, they are no longer considered healthy.

Composition of potatoes

Starch, fiber, pectin compounds, glucose, fructose, sucrose, and vitamins are the main components of potatoes. They also contain acids and other chemical elements.

The vegetable contains the following vitamins:

• vitamins of group PP;
• beta-carotene;
• vitamin A;
• B vitamins
• vitamin C;
• vitamin E;
• Vitamin H.

Macronutrients in potatoes include:

• calcium;
• magnesium;
• sodium;
• potassium;
• phosphorus;
• chlorine;
• sulfur.

The vegetable contains the following microelements:

• iron;
• zinc;
• iodine;
• copper;
• manganese;
• selenium;
• chromium;
• fluorine;
• molybdenum;
• boron;
• vanadium;
• cobalt;
• lithium;
• aluminum;
• nickel;
• rubidium.

Rules for storing potatoes

To preserve the tubers, first prepare the potatoes. It's important to preserve not only their appearance but also their nutritional value and flavor.

How to prepare potatoes for storage:

• To destroy all putrefactive and fungal bacteria, it is worth drying the potatoes in the sun for several hours after they are dug out of the ground;
• After drying, the vegetables should be shaken off the soil and sorted. They should be sorted by size, purpose, quality, and variety. Diseased or infected fruits should be discarded immediately. It's also worth sorting the produce that will be planted in the spring. It's important to remember that early varieties don't store well and will wrinkle and lose their flavor by spring, so they should be eaten first.
• The sorted product must be placed in boxes and stored in a cool, non-sunny place.

What conditions should be created for storing vegetables:

• The room where the potatoes will be stored should be maintained at a temperature of +2 to +4 degrees Celsius. This temperature will prevent the potato from freezing and starting to sprout.
• the room must be ventilated, with thermometers, so that timely measures can be taken to change the temperature;
• the bottom of the storage area should be covered with sand, pebbles or crushed stone, which will absorb excess moisture;
• the premises must be isolated from rodents and other pests;
• the storage area should be disinfected;
• A few apples placed in boxes of potatoes will ensure the tubers will last longer.

Where you shouldn’t store potatoes:

• Avoid storing vegetables in storage areas with cement, linoleum, or carpet floors. Such surfaces will accumulate moisture and promote the growth of fungi and other putrefactive bacteria.
• a room without ventilation is also not suitable for storing potatoes;
• the presence of sun is also a negative factor affecting the storage of potatoes;
• You cannot store vegetables in plastic, as they will not breathe;
• Storing potatoes in an apartment is also not recommended, as the heat will cause the potatoes to sprout and age, and also lose their flavor.

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Reviews

Experienced gardeners and farmers have long since determined the potato varieties and say that the best varieties for growing and storing are:

• Red Scarlet – stores well, has a good marketable appearance;
• Romano - tasty, crumbly;
• Laton is an early variety that produces stable and good results, has good properties and is highly beneficial for the body;
• Gala – excellent taste and storage quality during the winter;
• Such varieties as Udacha, Tuleevsky, Rosara, Bellarosa, Rocco, Adretta, Kamensky, Riviera, and Picasso have also proven themselves well on the market.