Ask Dr. Potato

Q: What is the main reason for blanching potatoes for fresh cut fries?

Q: Can I get No. 2 potatoes in boxes or cartons for my fresh cut fries? It would seem that the potatoes would stack easier than the bags and our employees might not have to be so careful about opening the bag and having potatoes spill out before we have finished using each bag. I have already stopped using the burlap bags as I found that if I didn’t get the burlap off the potatoes completely sometimes the fries looked like they might have a human hair when the burlap piece turned black from the fryer.

Q: What is the preferred packaging materials for potatoes?

Q: Can Idaho® potatoes be used to make doughnuts?

Q: How can I spice up my Hash dishes this year?

Q: What are some things I can do to make potato salads even more exciting?

Q: I had made some mashed potatoes and I accidently left them out for 3 hours, were they safe to serve after being left out?

Q: I was reading a recent issue of Food & Wine magazine and saw a recipe for a potato peel tortilla, and it got me wondering about whether potato peels can be bought in the supermarket. The recipe called for 4 cups of peels, which struck me as being a lot of potatoes. I Googled potato peels and many references came up, usually around "don't throw your peels away" or "how to make use of potato peels." It got me thinking further about whether somebody like an Ore-Ida sells potato peels. Why not? They're healthful and there seems to be an abundance of ways to work with them.

Q: If the bag in the supermarket says simply Idaho baking potato is that automatically a russet?

Q: Can you freeze German potato salad (no mayo/dairy)?