What to do if potatoes are frozen? How to defrost?

04-08-2017

what to do if potatoes are frozen?

• Defrost as much as you eat and immediately chop finely, finely and fry in a pan until crusty, for example with onions.
• feed animals, so as not to waste good, but it is no longer suitable for food
• When we have frozen potatoes, we first put it under cold water and then we took a large pan of hot water under the warm water and began to heat it up for 15 minutes and put it under the tap with warm water! after 15 minutes put it in a pot, then let it boil in a saucepan for half an hour in half an hour it will take on its appearance and taste and then you can do with not everything you want!
• Make starch.
• it is no longer usable. She is sweet when finished
• Only moonshine. Ice cream is even better. Chop finely. If it's completely frozen, just crush it.

What to do if potatoes are frozen on the balcony

Add to water and yeast. The brew will work. Overtake two times.

For a bottle of moonshine, they will clean your cowshed from manure. The road to the farm will be cleaned with a tractor. They will plow. There is a lot of moonshine and money. Just don't give it all at once. Half a glass in the morning is enough. Otherwise nothing will be done.

and go to the store for fresh!

If the potatoes were simply ‘frozen’ (for example, the temperature on the balcony or in the basement dropped a day or two below zero), nothing bad happened. The potato will taste a little sweet, but many people like it.

If the frost is 'grabbed' seriously, then in this case I will share with you my surprise and the experience I gained this winter.

I usually kept potatoes in the entrance vestibule of my former apartment, and apples - on the balcony (it is insulated), since these products are incompatible during storage (apples very quickly absorb the potato smell when stored together and acquire a potato flavor). This year (for personal reasons) I only helped my ex-wife to place food on the balcony. There were both potatoes and apples. In December, there were severe frosts, and the temperature on the balcony dropped to minus 7 - 9 degrees. My wife did nothing, and I had no time for potatoes. All food is frozen to a 'ringing'.

But ... now both potatoes and apples are alive! Apples do not spoil, do not rot much, and the potatoes lie as if nothing had happened!

I think the reason is this: frozen foods are afraid of strong temperature fluctuations (you cannot immediately add them to the heat - they will die). And if the temperature fluctuates slightly, then nothing bad happens. And now - all the same products are lying on the same balcony (although the temperature there has changed its sign several times), and nothing happened to them.

To summarize: frozen potatoes need to be protected from sudden changes in temperature. And - bon appetit!

Many gardeners were faced with a situation when during storage the potatoes froze. This is a fairly common problem, because with improper storage and non-compliance with temperature conditions, this is usually inevitable. Let's figure out what to do, how to act correctly and save the potatoes in such a situation.

How to remove sweetness from potatoes: a folk recipe

There is nothing wrong with the sweetish taste of potatoes, because we buy frozen fries and cook them, and then eat them with pleasure. And no one even thinks about how to remove the sweetness from potatoes. But anyone can do it, you just need time. If the root vegetables were stored on the balcony or were not lucky enough to buy them already, it is enough to bring the potatoes to a rather warm room, where the temperature is not lower than +15 degrees Celsius, and leave to lie down in such conditions for several days.

#2

The starch, which turned into sugar at low temperatures, will recover again in the heat, and you won't have to think about how to open a candy store. By the way, this method was used in Russia by our ancestors, who had no problems with storage places, but they did not have the equipment to maintain the required microclimate in the storages either, so they learned to reanimate food in natural and affordable ways.

#3

They needed to eat something in order to survive, and not fool themselves with how to make sweets. There is also a folk recipe for making a normal-tasting dish from frozen sweet potatoes. For this, the potatoes are peeled and immersed in cold water for a short time. After about an hour, drain the water, pour the potatoes with another, clean water and put on fire. Add a little vinegar to the pot with potatoes so that the water from the substances dissolved in it, released from the potatoes, does not darken.

#4

The sugars will partially pass into the water, and you don't have to think about how not to eat sweets. After boiling, this water must be drained and poured with clean, boiling water, preferably a fairly large amount. When you change the water during cooking, a large amount of sugars will go away with the water, the potatoes will come in handy for further mashed potatoes. By the way, there is such a sweet type of potato, sweet potato.

#5

If in no way was it possible to give the potatoes the desired quality, then you need to think about how to cook oriental sweets by combining sweetish frozen potatoes with sweet potatoes. The result will be an unusual but tasty dish. And it is best to store potatoes in proper conditions, preventing hypothermia and freezing, because it is easier to save than to correct later. Sometimes the processes of converting starch into sugar can go far and become irreversible, and a high-quality product will have to be thrown away.

What can make potatoes freeze

Frozen potatoes are common as winter weather is often unstable. She can freeze for the following reasons:

Failure to comply with temperature conditions during storage. This is due to the fact that not all cellars are suitable for storing potatoes. The optimum temperature for storing planting tubers is +3 - +6 degrees, in which case the vegetables will not rot or freeze.

In order for the potato crop to be stored much longer, it is necessary to store it in complete darkness, subject to the temperature regime.

• Second and no less important.

Air humidity. It can fluctuate between 85-93%.

Directly affects the condition of potatoes - air ventilation. With its help, temperature, humidity, as well as air exchange are regulated.

Urgently, the potatoes are frozen. Throw it out?

When transferred to warmth, it will become soft and slippery, it will be better to get rid of it.

Before starting to reanimate frozen potatoes, it is worth determining the degree of its "frostbite". If the seed potatoes have been in a cold room for a long time, the temperature in which ranged from 0 to 3 degrees, and the transformation of starch into sugar has already begun, then the tubers need to be transferred to a warm room and after 5-8 days the sugar is converted back into starch, the quality of the vegetable will become the same.

Frozen potatoes - a good harvest

If you find that your potatoes are frozen after wintering in the basement, this is not a reason to be upset. Experienced gardeners share their experience on how to get an excellent harvest from frozen tubers.

Sprouted tubers of frozen potatoes

In early April, the tubers should be planted in the greenhouse and after a few days the potatoes will be covered with small green bushes instead of the usual eyes. After planting, when the height of the sprouts reaches 15-20 cm, you can safely spud.

After two weeks, the bushes should be huddled again and fed with complex fertilizer. If you did everything right already, you can get a wonderful harvest by the middle of summer.

Can I cook frozen potatoes?

There are many different theories about whether you can eat frozen potatoes. On this, opinions differ.

Some say that such potatoes are completely harmless, while others argue that during the defrosting process, this vegetable releases a toxic substance that will cause significant harm to your health and the body as a whole.

Contrary to popular beliefs - you can! Potatoes are absolutely not poisonous, and the substance released while it freezes is nothing more than sucrose, which will give an unusual sweet taste to your dishes.

There are many recipes for frozen potatoes: you can make potato pancakes or cook in uniforms

Here are some tips on how to properly cook frozen potatoes:

• We take the required amount of potatoes, put them in water, the temperature of which can be from 40 to 60 degrees. Then the tubers should be thoroughly washed, dried and left for some time in a dark room. So, it will thaw faster, and you can easily clean it and use it in cooking.
• Don't like the sweet taste? - you can also get rid of it. Leave the peeled and chopped potatoes in cold water for a while. After - boil in salted water with the addition of vinegar (1 tablespoon vinegar per 1 liter of water), and the unwanted sweetness will go away.

You should start harvesting potatoes for planting in the fall. It is worth insulating the basement and building a storage space. Also make sure that the humidity and temperature of the air correspond to the generally accepted norm.

And only under such conditions will you be able to protect the crop from cooling or freezing, which can render it unusable.

Features of cooking dishes with frozen potatoes

In the old days, when they talked about difficult times, they said that they had to eat frozen potatoes. However, now peeled, neatly chopped potatoes are sold in supermarkets. Manufacturers recommend defrosting it very quickly. Plain frozen potatoes should be cooked in the same way.

Frozen tubers are easy to peel: if you hold them for a few seconds in warm water, the peel comes off like a film. Immediately after that, the potatoes, preventing them from defrosting naturally, must be dipped in boiling water or, cut into pieces, in hot vegetable oil.

Products that can neutralize an unpleasant aftertaste:

• onion;
• tomatoes and tomato paste;
• sour cream;
• sauerkraut or cabbage.

First meal

Frozen potatoes boil quickly, so it is recommended to cook them separately and add them to soups 5-10 minutes before being cooked.If the sweet taste is too pronounced, add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar to the water when cooking potatoes. The unusual taste is practically not felt in cabbage soup with sauerkraut, pickle, borscht with tomatoes or tomato paste.

Second courses and snacks

The taste of frozen potatoes is leveled in vinaigrette, salads with pickles, sauerkraut, mushrooms. For dressing, mayonnaise, mustard, unrefined vegetable oil with vinegar and spices are used.

Frozen potatoes will not puree, but small potatoes (or large ones cut into 2-3 pieces) can be baked in the oven. Peeled tubers are thrown into boiling water with vinegar, after 7-10 minutes the water is drained. The potatoes are laid out in one row on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil, they are also greased on top, sprinkled with salt and spices, and placed in a heated oven. To make the crust on the potatoes thicker, scrub the surface with a fork before greasing. The dish goes well with smoked sausages, sour cream-onion or tomato-onion gravy.

Also, undercooked potatoes are cut into slices, fried and added to stews, baked in pots with meat, onions, beans and tomato sauce.

Salty baked goods

Mashed boiled potatoes with onions, buckwheat and, optionally, cracklings - a popular filling for pies and dumplings, a base for casseroles.

Approximate proportions:

• 0.5 kg of boiled mashed potatoes;
• 1 glass of buckwheat;
• 3 large onions.

Buckwheat is poured with boiling water and left for 3-4 hours to swell. Then buckwheat is mixed with potatoes, fried onions, the mass is salted and pepper. To improve the taste, add 2-3 tablespoons of cracklings. Now the mass can be used as a filling for an open pie, pouring on top with a mixture of 50 g of mayonnaise, 50 g of tomato sauce or homemade adjika, 2 eggs and 100 g of grated cheese.

If a casserole is prepared, then the top and bottom are made from potato-buckwheat mass, and fried mushrooms with onions or stewed cabbage are placed inside. The top is watered with tomato-mayonnaise filling with egg and grated cheese.

Draniki

To bake potato pancakes from frozen potatoes, you need to grind them very quickly in a blender, otherwise the potato mass will become sticky, "rubbery".

Proportions for potato pancakes:

• 2 large potatoes;
• 2 large onions;
• 1 tablespoon sour cream;
• 3-4 eggs;
• 3-5 tablespoons of flour;
• salt, pepper - to taste.

desserts

Potatoes go well with cottage cheese. Curd-potato casseroles are lush and juicy.

Proportions:

• 500 g of cottage cheese;
• 200 g boiled potatoes;
• 4 eggs;
• lemon;
• sugar to taste, optional raisins, vanilla sugar.

Cottage cheese and potatoes are ground until smooth, crushed lemon (zest and pulp), yolks and whipped whites are introduced into it.

Another use for sweet potatoes in desserts is dumplings. From 0.5 kg of mashed boiled potatoes, 2 eggs and 3-4 tablespoons of flour, knead the dough. Any fresh or frozen fruits and berries are suitable for the filling. Form balls and boil them in salted water. The prepared dumplings are sprinkled with bread crumbs fried in butter and mixed with cinnamon. When serving, pour over sour cream.

what to do if potatoes are frozen?

During the period of potato germination, frosts and recurrent cold are often observed. Then potato growers need to follow the weather forecast and take measures to save seedlings. It is very troublesome and ineffective to use smoke, as in the garden, because the smoke rises above the potato seedlings.

It is more efficient to huddle seedlings, covering even their tops with 2-3 cm of soil. The seedlings covered in this way do not die even when the frost is minus 3–5 ° С.

But what if the seedlings are already high, and frost is expected at night? Immediately it is necessary to bend each plant and carefully pour earth, first on the top, so as not to injure the bush, and then on the whole plant.At the end of freezing, carefully dig out the plant by hand, preferably in the afternoon, when the soil warms up and the turgor (cell pressure) of the plants decreases. Then rinse the plant with water from a watering can at room temperature. You can put 15–20 g of urea and 30 g of nitroammofoska on a watering can into this water.

If frosts damage the potatoes during the budding period (in mid-June), and even worse in the flowering phase, then you can help them grow stronger by temporarily darkening them in sunny weather with opaque film or plywood boards along the rows. When frozen plants are in the sun, their leaves evaporate a lot of water due to paralysis of the stomata. This leads to wilting and death of plants. If, after freezing, the plant is darkened for 1–2 hours, then the evaporation of water proceeds more slowly and its losses do not reach critical sizes. During this time, the paralyzed stomata will begin to function and the leaf tissue will not die. Shades from the sun and smoke.

It is also possible to increase the resistance of potatoes to frost and revive them faster after freezing by enhancing potassium nutrition, since this is a potassium-loving plant. When feeding large frozen plants, instead of potassium, you can add 0.5 cups of wood ash for each bush.

Do I need to feed and water the potatoes?

Potatoes are fed only on insufficiently fertile and poorly fertilized soils.

Restoration of damaged haulm

When the tops of potatoes are frozen, there is a real threat of losing part of the crop. Frozen potato tops must be urgently restored. The methods depend on the time of frost and the stage of development of the potato bushes. If this happened at the time of budding, then they can be strengthened by shading from the sun's rays.

The second step is to feed the affected plants. If the tops of the potatoes freeze from frost, then it is good to add potash fertilizers or wood ash. Urea is added to restore the green mass.

Experienced potato growers add spraying the bushes with "Epin" or boric acid at intervals of 7 days.

When planting potatoes especially early, be sure to take care of ways to protect the tops from return frosts.

If you take action in time, your favorite variety will not freeze and will delight you with an excellent harvest.

Very often, residents of multi-storey buildings save vegetables on the balcony, this is especially true in winter, when the temperature there is optimal and contributes to long-term preservation. But if a fierce winter is raging outside the window, and the temperature drops to exorbitant values, then even the best glazing will not cope with it, then there is a risk that all your reserves will begin to freeze. This is especially true when potatoes are injured on the balcony, and very often it freezes all over there, what to do with it then?

Frozen potatoes. What to do?

Poor development of plants and external signs of their starvation can be a signal for feeding.

Potato planting care. How many times to spud them?

If the potato occupies a relatively large area and is planted with not germinated tubers, then its shoots appear on the 20-25th day. Much earlier, in some areas, seedlings of weeds appear in the form of white threads. This usually occurs on the 6-8th day.

When and how to harvest potatoes? How to accelerate its ripening?

The optimal time for harvesting potatoes comes when the tops die and wither. With yellowing and browning of leaves and stems, the growth of tubers slows down. At this time, the maximum amount of starch and other nutrients accumulates in the tubers, their peel becomes strong, the stolons are easily separated from the tubers, which facilitates harvesting and protects the crop from injury.

Re-planting potatoes with freshly harvested tubers

The most progressive method of potato seed growing in the steppe zone of Ukraine is summer planting with freshly harvested tubers.This only applies to varieties in which young tubers germinate easily under the influence of growth stimulants. These varieties include Seyanets 70, Tsarnikavsky and partly Priekulsky early.

Air and soil temperature required for a full-fledged potato crop

Potato requirements for air and soil temperature in different phases of plant development are not the same. Intensive germination of tubers begins at a soil temperature at a depth of embedding (6-12 cm) of 7-8 ° C.

A ton of potatoes per hundred square meters. How do amateur potato growers get it?

I took up potatoes seriously about ten years ago, when I retired. In the first year, he acquired the tubers of Adretta, Vesna, Carat and other valuable varieties. I took them about a hundred square meters of land.

Varietal replacement of potatoes

Productivity - the amount of products harvested from a unit of land area. Each farmer is primarily concerned with this characteristic of the variety. And we all, from farmer to summer resident, are looking for new, more productive varieties in order to get more products at lower costs.

How are potatoes stored in the field, storage, on the balcony and in a city apartment?

The harvested tubers are dried before storage for 6-12 days at a temperature of 15-17 °, best of all under a canopy so that they do not turn green (if they are edible or fodder potatoes). During this time, wounds will heal, young tubers will ripen and potatoes can be laid for permanent storage.

How to reduce the nitrate content in tubers?

Nitrates are molecules of bound nitrogen in the form of the NO3 ion. All living organisms, including humans, use nitrogen in this form. By themselves, nitrates are not highly toxic. Nitrates containing NO2 are dangerous. It is they who, connecting with the hemoglobin of the blood, disrupt respiration, and at high doses cause severe poisoning.

Video

In this video, you will clearly see what can be done with frozen potatoes so that they can be eaten.

Potato growers try to grow varieties of different ripening periods. This helps to significantly increase the time when you can feast on delicious potatoes. The early potatoes are my favorite. However, in the spring, when growing early varieties of potatoes, there is a danger of recurrent frosts.

After all, it is planted as soon as the soil warms up in order to get a harvest early. Some potato growers carry out their first work already during the February thaws. If frosts begin before the time the potatoes rise, then there is no particular danger. The tubers are protected by soil, and they are not afraid of a slight frost. But the tops are very sensitive to low temperatures and freeze easily.

When the degree of damage is small, then the reserve growth points will quickly restore the bushes. They will grow back and the harvest will be preserved. If the tops of the potatoes freeze too much, then this will negatively affect the yield, and the harvesting time will have to be postponed to a later date. Therefore, gardeners need to know how to protect potatoes from freezing in order to save a precious crop.

How to understand that the potatoes are frozen

If frosts hit, and your balcony absolutely cannot cope with them, and you suspect that the potatoes stored there are frozen, you should check this. But how do you do it? There are two options for the development of events, the first, when the potatoes are frozen, and the second, when they just froze.

The first option is very easy to check, you just need to bring the potatoes indoors for one to two hours, and then try to cut them. If everything went smoothly without difficulty, and the potatoes in the middle remain of their usual color, then everything is in order.

In order for the crop to be stored much longer, it must be stored in complete darkness.

If it was difficult to cut, then leave the potatoes to freeze for a longer period, about six hours. After that, take one potato, cut into several pieces and boil for half an hour. If it takes on a sweetish taste, then your potatoes are completely frozen.

How to tell if your crop is frozen

Let's figure out how to determine if a potato is frozen.

First you need to bring the potatoes to a warm place and leave for a couple of hours. After that, cut it, if it was easy to do this, your crop is in order, and if black is visible on the cut, then it is better to throw it out immediately.

Signs of frozen potatoes

If you managed to cut the vegetable with difficulty, then the potatoes froze, you need to leave it warm for a few more hours, then cut into several pieces and boil, it will be a little sweet.

Can I eat frozen potatoes

There are many different theories, some experts claim that such a product is absolutely harmless and suitable for food, others say that in the process of being torn apart, potatoes release toxic substances and can no longer be consumed.

So which of this is true? Of course, there are no poisons in potatoes, the most common fructose and sucrose begin to stand out from it, which will give an unusual sweetish taste to cooked food.

Frozen potatoes do not carry any harm to the body and no harmful substances are formed in it at all. So, if you are not embarrassed by the fact that the potatoes will be sweet, you can safely eat them.

IS FROZEN POTATO DANGEROUS

Some authors argue that frozen potatoes turn into a poisonous substance - they say, when frozen, toxins are released in it. This is absolutely not the case. The processes occurring in potatoes under the influence of low temperatures have been thoroughly studied and scientifically established that they are quite natural. People who say the opposite are faced with improperly thawed potatoes, and besides, cooked without taking into account their "frostbite".

In fact, nothing terrible happens to the tubers and they retain in themselves almost all the nutrients that were in them before the frost. Do not be afraid to eat such potatoes and treat them to your household. The only thing is that not everyone likes the sweetish taste that frozen potatoes acquire. But there are those who deliberately freeze potatoes for this sweet taste.

In addition, in stores you can find frozen peeled potatoes, which are thus prepared for long-term storage. So there is nothing terrible or critical in such a product.

However, if the potatoes were either frozen or thawed, and many times, there is a high probability of spoilage. It is better to throw such potatoes out of harm's way. The same should be done with tubers that have been frozen for a long time - more than 2-3 months.

What to do with frozen fruit

If suddenly more than one hundred kilograms of potatoes were stored on your balcony and after severe frosts it froze all over, do not despair there are ways to fix it, of course, they do not always work, but even if the situation is not corrected, spoiled potatoes can be used practically without loss. So, let's look at the option of correcting the situation and returning the potato to its original position.

Tip 1: Culling and cleaning

First, select as many potatoes from the total frozen quantity as you can eat at one time. Potatoes must be immediately immersed in hot water, the temperature of which is between forty and sixty degrees Celsius.

Remove the top layer, sort the tubers, wash them thoroughly, dry them. You need to dry in the dark, the potatoes should not be cramped.

This way, the top layer will thaw pretty quickly and you can clean it up quite easily. After peeling, potatoes should be immediately used to prepare the planned meal.Having done everything quickly and correctly, the sweetish aftertaste should not appear, so you can cook potatoes without fear.

Tip 2: To feed livestock

If the potatoes are too frozen, and the sweetness still appears, then it can be used in other areas, such as feeding livestock, making moonshine, or making homemade potato starch, which will always come in handy in the household and in the kitchen.

Tip 3: Recipes

If you have never tried eating frozen potatoes, do not be afraid, first try a dish made from such ingredients, and then draw your final conclusions. Many people like to eat just such a potato, because of its sweetish taste, which makes the dishes unusual. Simply put, dishes made from frost-bitten potatoes are an amateur and should not be completely written off from the bills.

There are many recipes from frozen potatoes: you can make dranniki or cook in uniforms.

If the potatoes are not too frozen, but you are still worried about their quality, pancakes are the best dish in this case. Having fried potatoes well, they will not change their original taste at all and the dish should turn out to be quite tasty and satisfying.

Such potatoes can be baked in the oven, then the sweetish taste will completely disappear.

Also, if you want to make soup or borscht from such ingredients, then the potatoes in it will be too soft and for an uninformed person this may seem like an unusual phenomenon.

If you want to fry such potatoes, then there is a risk that it will turn black very quickly and completely lose its pleasant taste and become unpleasant. This is possible if the frostbite was too strong or there were mistakes in the cooking process.

Immerse the frozen fruit for a minute in cold water, then in boiling water, to which a little vinegar is added.

One of the conditions that is fundamental when eating frozen potatoes is the time it is torn apart. The most important thing is not to do so that thawing will be slow, but to speed up this process as much as possible.

If slow thawing has not occurred, then the enzymes that are in the potato do not have time to completely break down and the starch does not turn into a sugar state. This method of storing potatoes is used in the north, where it is kept completely frozen, and during cooking, it is allowed to thaw a little to peel the skin, after which it is immediately boiled.

Watching the video: Potato recipes, master class

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CLUB ON THE FROST

The best period for planting potatoes is considered the time when the bird cherry has faded, the birch leaves have reached medium size, the soil at a depth of 10 centimeters warmed up to 5 ° C. In this case, it is more likely that the spring cold snap will not return.

But the temperature can drop sharply in June, as sometimes happens in the northern regions of Russia. In this case, you can choose one of the following methods to protect the foliage from a sudden drop in air temperature.

If the area of ​​the garden is small, then you can use this method, since it will not be difficult to accumulate several plastic bottles. They are all filled with water, well closed with a lid. Next, these bottles are placed next to the bushes.

The bottles are heated during the day from the sun, and at night they give the accumulated heat to the plants and the earth. Thanks to this method, the bushes do not freeze and successfully tolerate sudden changes in air temperature.

These bottles can be replaced with special hoses that carry water. This, of course, is more expensive and more difficult, which is why many gardeners use plastic bottles.

Smoke screen

Many people know about this method, but few people dare to use it because of its complexity and insecurity. Ordinary smoke, like fog, is able to protect the earth from freezing. But for this, the smoke must envelop the beds.

If the night is windy on a cold cold, this is ideal. In calm weather, all efforts will be in vain.

To create the necessary smoke screen, dry firewood and straw must be prepared for the fire, which are mixed with special wet materials that emit abundant smoke.

After that, a fire is lit from the blown side, and all night long they make sure that the height of its flame does not exceed 50 centimeters. To be effective, all the smoke should envelop all the beds until the early morning. The fire can be completely extinguished only three hours after dawn.

Mulching

If you have a lot of straw, then it can help protect the vegetable plant from the cold. To do this, the entire bed is covered with a thick layer of straw, which is then not removed, since it, decomposing, improves the composition of the soil. This method is ideal for a vegetable grown from eyes, seeds, but not suitable for early varieties.

Hilling

Fortunately, spring frosts are most often very short-lived, so only the upper part of the tops suffers, and the tubers and roots remain intact. In order to save the top, it is necessary to follow the weather forecast and prepare the beds in time for a sharp cold snap.

If the volume of the harvest is huge, then a hedgehog cultivator will help to cope with this matter. With its help, you can not only spud a vegetable, but also get rid of weeds.

With the help of this earthen slide, the bush will not only protect itself from the cold, but also put down more powerful roots. If the cold lasts for several days, then it is recommended to huddle every two to three days, since the top grows quickly.

There is one drawback, this method is not suitable for a vegetable grown from seeds, eyes, as it is too weak to break through a thick layer of earth.

Experienced gardeners, even before planting, treat the tubers with special preparations that strengthen the immune system and enhance frost resistance. These preparations eliminate the need to worry about protecting the plant from sudden frosts.

These drugs do not harm either the future crop or the environment. The best and recognized drugs are:

• Epin-Extra.
• Poteytin.
• SILK.
• Bioglobin.
• Biostim.

But you can also use other drugs, the main thing is that they contain potassium or phosphorus, which help to increase the frost resistance of the tuber.

Moisturizing

This is the easiest and most favorite way of many gardeners. On the eve of a sharp drop in air temperature, the entire earth and plants are thoroughly watered with a hose or watering can.

During frosts, moisture from the soil and leaves begins to evaporate, thereby forming a fog that protects plants and the ground from freezing, since it does not allow cold air to pass to them.

Covering with film

This is the most popular and easiest way to protect all plants from frost. Ideal for all types of potatoes, especially early ones. As a covering material, you can use newspapers, spunbond, burlap, special film.

First, pipes or sticks are stuck along the entire bed, then a covering material is thrown on top, its edges are pressed to the ground with stones. It is advisable that not a single leaf touches the covering material, otherwise it may freeze during cold weather.

Therefore, the sticks must be higher than the bushes. During the day, this material must be removed, as the greens can fade due to the heat.

But there is another way in which you can do without sticks. Barley is planted at the same time as potatoes. Since it grows faster than a vegetable, it can serve as a support for the covering material. After the warm weather has settled for a long time, all the barley is mowed and left in the beds as a natural fertilizer.

Potato pulp is made up of various elements. But the main place in it is occupied by starch, which is a polysaccharide. These are complex sugars, the structure of which begins to break down under the influence of low temperatures (0 and below degrees Celsius).That is, starch breaks down into its constituent substances, the main of which is glucose.

Frozen potatoes - what to do | #Edblack hostess tips

How to find out if potatoes are frozen or not

Let's figure out how to tell if a potato is frozen.

First, you need to put the potatoes in a warm place and leave for a couple of hours. After that, cut it and if the cut shows blackness, then it is better to discard it immediately.

In case it was difficult to cut a vegetable, the potatoes were frozen: then they are left warm for several hours, then cut into several pieces and boiled, but it will be a little sweet.

Like water, potatoes freeze when the thermometer drops below zero degrees. The most optimal temperature for storing vegetables is 2-3 degrees above zero.

When storing potatoes in the basement, there is often a danger of freezing vegetables. The condition of the tubers depends on the air temperature in the storage:

• At temperatures from +2 to +5 ° C, potatoes retain their taste, at higher temperatures, they germinate prematurely.
• From 0 to +1 ° C, briefly drops to -1 ° C, starch begins to break down, and a sweet taste develops over time. They asked, does the potato freeze at what temperature? Consider that you have the answer.
• Potatoes freeze at temperatures of -1.7 ° C or lower and acquire a distinct sweet taste. As the temperature rises, the frozen tubers begin to rot and those that were intended to be planted lose their germination.

The advantages of purchasing (harvesting) a large batch of potatoes for the winter

1. Organic products... It is not known what is now being sold in stores and where vegetables and fruits are brought from. And by buying a bag of potatoes in a neighboring village, or collecting them from your garden, you can be sure that there are no harmful additives in it.
2. Room for vegetables... If there is a good basement, an insulated balcony, where the potatoes will lie at the optimum temperature all winter, then this is an additional incentive to think about this issue in the fall.
3. Saving. If you harvest from your land in the country, then you pay only for fertilizer (most often it is natural manure), and, if there are no potatoes left since the last time, for seeds with sprouts. And when you buy a bag of potatoes, in any case it will cost several times cheaper than small bags several times a week from supermarkets.

Fired up with the idea to save money and buy potatoes and other vegetables for the whole winter, many simply take them out to the balcony. And they forget that our Russian winter is unpredictable. And not all have well-insulated cellars, balconies and basements.

Result: The potatoes are frozen. Some will immediately say that you need to throw it out, that it will now be unfit for eating: soft and sweet. There is logic in these words.

The fact is that potatoes freeze if the air temperature drops below 0 ° C. The optimum air temperature in the room where potatoes are stored is 3-5 ° C.

Above 8оС - sprouts appear. When the air gets too cold, the enzymes in the potato convert the starch into sugars. That is why it becomes sweet.

If the potatoes are frozen, can you eat them?

As a rule, frozen potatoes can be eaten.

Grate frozen potatoes while they are not melting. Add flour, egg and make burgers. Salt, seasonings to taste. Fry on both sides in a skillet and delicious pancakes are ready!

Spices and herbs will help to disguise the sweetness of potatoes: salt, bay leaves, bell peppers, dill, parsley. Suitable mayonnaise-sour cream sauce, grated carrots. From the frozen root, you get delicious French fries. Children must appreciate! Despite your best efforts, do potatoes still taste sweet and unpleasant to eat? Get rid of stocks. If there is a lot of potatoes and it’s a pity to just throw it away, give the livestock farms to feed pigs, cows, horses.And the next time, before storing potatoes, warm the room according to all the rules so that there will be no such problem in the future.

Another phenomenon of potatoes is their greening. Read on to see if green potatoes can be eaten and how to avoid greening.

Freezing potatoes for the winter at home

Initially, it is necessary to select sufficiently large tubers without defects, wash them and remove them from the skin. Since potatoes can be frozen in several ways, further preparatory steps will also differ:

1. it is best to freeze all the potatoes or cut them in half. For this purpose, the tubers are pre-soaked in cold water (up to 20 minutes), changing it several times. Then blanch in boiling water for 3-5 minutes and chill in a container with water and ice. After drying on a towel and packing on plastic bags. These potatoes are suitable for mashing, baking in the oven and frying;

   

2. can potatoes be frozen in the freezer? Yes! A visual manifestation of the wit of modern housewives is the frozen fries. Freezing this way will allow your fries to be cooked in just a few minutes: just remove them from the freezer and put them in the boiling oil. 7-10 minutes - and call everyone to the table. It is very simple to make such a preparation: cut the peeled tubers into small cubes, salt well, quickly and thoroughly roll in flour, arrange on a pallet and send them to frosty conditions for 10-12 hours. After that, put in packages and continue to store in the freezer;
3. You can freeze fried potatoes if they are not made from frozen convenience food, but from fresh tubers. The finished dish is laid out on a paper towel, absorbing excess fat. Then packed and stacked on the freezer shelves;
4. even mashed potatoes can be preserved in finished form: take a pastry bag, place the potatoes in it and form small nests. Then place them on a pallet and, after pre-freezing in the chamber, place them in a convenient plastic container.

Such blanks do not require defrosting - they are immediately sent to a frying pan or microwave. If you add a fresh egg inside, you get a delicious, beautiful and original side dish.

How and how much is stored?

Potatoes from the refrigerator do not require defrosting, you must immediately subject them to heat treatment (fry or boil). Storage times vary depending on the method of freezing. For example, mashed potatoes and fried potatoes retain their taste for 10-15 days. As for whole frozen vegetables, their shelf life reaches 3-6 months.

How to defrost potatoes

If the potatoes are frozen in the cellar or if the potatoes are frozen on the balcony - what to do? There are some tips for defrosting potatoes correctly without changing the taste:

1. Take the amount from the potato storage that is immediately used.
2. It is sent to hot water (about 50-60 ºC). You need to watch how the peel begins to thaw and it becomes easy to peel.
3. Peel and add immediately to the food you are cooking.

What can you do with frozen potatoes? Yes all! The tasty qualities of such defrosting of potatoes do not change.
This is how the peoples of the Far North prepare frozen potatoes:

• The required amount of frozen potatoes is taken from the storage. It goes into cold water within 5 minutes.
• Then the peel is peeled, and the potatoes are cut in half and dipped in cold water again.
• The whole procedure takes about 30 minutes. Such potatoes can not only be cooked, added to soup, but also fried. The only downside is that it gets a little dry due to the lack of starch.

What to do if potatoes are frozen in the cellar and become sweet? Take away this sweetness! How to remove excessive sweetness from frozen potatoes?

1. To do this, take the right amount of tubers again and dip in cold water for 5-10 minutes.
2. Then it is cleaned, cut into pieces and boiled in boiling water with vinegar.
3. 1 tablespoon of vinegar per liter of water.
4. The potatoes are cooked until tender and then drained.
5. Now it can be added to soup, second course. Unfortunately, the sweetness will not be lost. You can add to cabbage soup from sauerkraut or borscht - there it will give them a special piquancy.

Potato harvesting should begin in the fall. It is worth insulating the basement and building storage space. Also, make sure that the temperature of humidity and air corresponds to the generally accepted norm. And only under such conditions can you protect the crop from cooling or sudden freezing, which can lead to its uselessness.

Freezing potatoes during storage

When storing potatoes on an unheated balcony or in a garage, there is often a danger of freezing vegetables. The condition of the tubers depends on the air temperature in the storage:

• at a temperature from +2 to +5 ° C, potatoes retain their taste, at a higher temperature, they germinate prematurely and begin to wither;
• from 0 to +1 ° C, short-term drops to -1 ° C, starch begins to split, over time a sweet taste appears;
• potatoes freeze at temperatures of -1.7 ° C and below, acquiring a pronounced sweet taste. When the temperature rises, frozen tubers begin to rot, intended for planting - they lose their germination.

To prevent the potatoes from freezing, the cellars are insulated. In unheated garages and on closed balconies, special boxes are installed with a foam layer, the tubers are covered with warm clothes on top. This usually helps if the outside temperature does not drop below -5 ° C. In regions with harsh winters, you must make or purchase an electrically heated potato storage box in advance.

Frozen potatoes after defrosting quickly begin to rot