Froze a lot of Jersey Royals last year with reasonable success. 'Book' says you can't. Any ideas?? = Tim
iceland.co.uk sell frozen new potatoes so you must be able to ???
I freeze almost everything and anything - if doubful I don't leave in the freezer for very long but try to use fairly quickly.
Anyhow, Tim, that's not the reason I am psoting - question: did you grow the Jersey Royals and if so where did you get the seed potatoes? I have never seen them for sale as seed but have never tried chitting them either. We love them tho but perhaps they have a "copyright" attached?
Seed? - 'International Kidney' - from simpsonsseeds, organiccatalogue et al.
But mine came from Tesco's - 1/2 price as the season drew on. = Tim
True Wicker, just like Champagne and Harris Tweed, they only acquire the name Jersey Royal when they are grown in Jersey!
Never thought of freezing spuds. How? and were they okay when thawed?? ???
Derek - interesting that HDRA rate 'International Kidney' as 'similar' to 'Jersey Royals', not the same thing by another name??
Emma - they were fine - worth doing if you want that 'new pot' texture/flavour later in the season, & are not growing second-croppers.
Predicament - can't recall whether I blanched or not. Don't think so.
But all the advice on the net is 'it doesn't work'!! Hence my query. = Tim
Tim - do you blanch all the veg you produce for freezing?
Hi all
after a few years of freezing stuff from the lottie,we have decided to freeze very little this year.We find that the taste is very disappointing compared to pulling the stuff fresh which I have come to believe is the sole purpose of a lottie,so I'm gonna work on the "when it's gone it's gone basis".I may come to regret it.. :-\....we'll see ???Any views on this folks?......Alan
In an ideal world, we'd all have something from the lottie all year round.
Here, life's not like that. And thank God - or his minions - for the toms, ratatouille, chard, potatoes, beans, sweet corn, veg soups, veg stock, sprouting etc to fall back on when we're 4" deep in snow! I know - it will never be the same as fresh. But we still have the leeks, cabbage, lettuce, carrots etc from the garden. = Tim
PS Blanching? For short term use - no. But it is sensible to blanch for the longer term if you want to slow down the rotting process. This we do by steaming, rather than boiling.
Hi Alan. We freeze lots of stuff from the lottie. Ofcourse it's not as good as fresh but............what's the altenative? Our frozen stuff is still a lot nicer than most of the fresh veggies at the greengrocer or supermarket and I know where it came from and that it's 'clean'.
interesting opinions from you guys.
i only produced small amounts last year and thus only froze for short term use only. this year (hopefully) we will have a longer supply duration.
i assume if steaming instead of blanching you still do it for the same length of time?
Tim/Derek, thanks for the info re International Kidney - didn't know anything about them, but have googled and see a few stockists so that's on the list for NEXT year!!
Incidentally, Tim, we were buying lots of JR half price as well only wish I had tried freezing some for short term use.
Wicker - don't forget the organic catalogue when you order them.
10% off if you're an HDRA member.
OB - no - it's about 30% longer. But look the times up - it's quite critical. If you can't find them, ask me!
Big thing about steaming is that the pot's always at full steam - with boiling, you are cooking the stuff for some time before the water's boiling again. And you don't leach out so much flavour - I reckon.
Remember the COOLING in COLD water afterwards - for as long as you cooked them! = Tim
cheers tim ;)