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Why do so many bought potatoes taste unpleasantly sweet?

B3B3 Posts: 27,505
edited November 2023 in Fruit & veg
Is it the weather, storage or me?
I can't bear the taste of sugary potatoes. I understand the science of it but I'd like to know why they're so prevalent now.  Are there any varieties that are less prone to sweetness?
In London. Keen but lazy.
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Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    The likelihood is that they’ve been wrongly stored at too low a temperature (I think approx 4C is the trigger point but I just be wrong on that) the starches in the potatoes then turn to sugars and the potatoes become sweet. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited November 2023
    Could it be some kind of infection messing with your sense of taste?

    I can't say I have ever encountered sugary potatoes - cooked with nothing added to them.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    @Dovefromabove knows her spuds, so I would believe her.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I'm just offering an idea. My sense of taste and smell go wonky when ill or very stressed out.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited December 2023
    I suspected it might be that @Dovefromabove. Unfortunately, you can't tell by looking at them. . Strange how they tell you to keep some salad fspuds in the fridge. I never do .
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Not an infection under my husband has it too @Fire
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Why didn't I think of that!
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I also agree with Dove.
    I love roasties but I only make them between mid Sept to Mid Dec when the spuds are fresh.
    Trying to make proper roasties at any other time, they just don't come out right for me.
    I like a roastie to be like a big fluffy chip - golden, crisp and crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. They take just under 1 hr in the oven to get to perfection.

    At other times they come out ok, but don't have that tempura-like crunch as they've been stored in less than perfect conditions.
    When they go in the oven the bottoms burn in about 15 mins due to the sugars caramelising. Any longer than about 40 mins in the oven and they're burnt.

    I've already part-roasted 2 x 2.5Kg bags of spuds to see me through until next Sept.
    I use either Maris Piper of King Edward.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I hate it when you do the right things and end up with wonderfully crispy potatoes. Then you bite in-yuk! Horrible sugary spit out horrible inside.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    This may answer your question @B3:

    https://www.all-about-potatoes.com/why-are-my-potatoes-sweet.html

    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


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