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When I boil bought potatoes, I have no problem, but when I boil potatoes that I have grown, they always boil into the water and turn to mush. My other half does not like them chipped, either, but has no complaints when I chip bought ones. I can't pinpoint it to a particular variety as I have grown different ones over the years. I'm begining to wonder if it is worth, growing your own.

all potato varieties vary according to the soil. I should ask around what ones do well in your area. I have always wanted to see a class in the shows for cooked and uncooked potatoes but you would not know if it was the same variety.

Some potatoes are renowned for breaking up. Perhaps you have avoided the ones that don't? Slow boiling usually avoids the worst mush but have you tried just steaming them? Steaming retains more flavour and should avoid them breaking up. I very rarely boil potatoes now unless I intend to mash them.

For chips I par steam the spuds for several minutes then fry them in shallow oil until golden brown on both sides. I say on both sides because the trick is to cut them into round coin shapes about 1cm thick. They are easy to flip over and don't take so much oil in the frying. For extra yumminess before you put them in the frying pan sprinkle some vegetable gravy granules over them. The granules stick to the surface and give you a flavour coated chip that beats an ordinary chip hands down.

How about cooking them in the  microwave with the skins on. When cooked peel and mash them. To rescue watery or gloopy mash I keep a packet of instant mash(instant potato and onion is yummy) in the cupboard which I add a couple of spoonfuls to the mash.

Steam not boil- always

I wouldn't give up home grown tatties taste much better than those sold in the  supermarket. Have a look at http://www.jbaseedpotatoes.co.uk/ lots to choose from and read the reviews.

I wonder if my soil is the problem. It is not very well draining. I get a lot of pests in them, well I don't actually find the critters,  just the holes where they have been. I couldn't possibly cook them in their skins as I have to chop so much out of them.

I put soot at the bottom of the trench before I put manure in,i then plant the seed potato on top of that,cover with soil,i don't seem to get any problems like holes in the potatoes,my soil is quite light and is manured for potatoes every year,on a 4 year crop rotation.

Quote from: cacran on October 20, 2013, 14:29:22
When I boil bought potatoes, I have no problem, but when I boil potatoes that I have grown, they always boil into the water and turn to mush. My other half does not like them chipped, either, but has no complaints when I chip bought ones. I can't pinpoint it to a particular variety as I have grown different ones over the years. I'm beginning to wonder if it is worth, growing your own.

Generally when it comes to potatoes there are floury varieties (that tend to break up a little when cooked - some worse than others) and harder, waxy varieties sometimes termed 'salad' potatoes,

Different varieties have different solid matter to water content ratios. This is why some break up more than others when boiled. Incidentally, do they go to a watery mush or a floury soup?

There is a relationship between dry matter and disintegration.  Watering and feeding to get bigger tubers (with a lower dry matter content) seems to be the only thing you can do, apart from more careful selection of the varieties you grow, but clearly that will only apply next year now!

Droughts during growth will also cause the dry matter content to increase - which makes the problem worse especially if you're already growing a variety that tends to be 'floury' anyway. If you have this disintegration problem with most of the varieties you grow, regardless of whether the variety is 'waxy' or 'floury' then I would suggest it's the conditions and/ or soil they are grown in - although spuds are pretty tolerant of most soils (as long as they err on the acidic side). Extremes of drought or waterlogging can have an effect on the dry matter content of any potato. How damp is your soil? I.e. do you grow on a peat bog or on desert-like soil!?

If you loved messing with a chemistry set when you were a boy, this 'scientific' test in the kitchen will really appeal to you!

Add 225gm table salt to 1775 gm water and stir until dissolved. The temperature should be around 20C. This produces a salt solution with a specific gravity of about 1.080. Place the potatoes into the solution, one at a time. If they float, they will be good, firm boilers. If they sink, they will probably be mealy when boiled. These are high dry matter potatoes, and probably best steamed.

Finally, the supermarket spuds might be grown anywhere in the world with different soil and growing conditions. So they may not reflect the tendencies that the same variety of spuds display in this country - when cooked - so don't get a complex about yours. I'll guarantee they will taste 10 times better - even when disintegrated! Supermarkets are clever to provide veneer deep qualities to their products. They go for colour, shape, uniformity and cooking results. They don't care a fig about chemical contamination, age of the product, how it tastes or how good it is for you - just how good it is for their pocket. Tell your wife to stick with your lottie spuds - they may turn to mush, but it's good wholesome, healthy, fresh & very tasty mush! 

I find shop bought potatoes take about twice as long to cook. If I boiled my homegrown spuds for as long, I would have a pan of mush - last year's mistake. Now I check 5-10 mins after the water has started boiling and mostly have faultless spuds.

My potatoes are grown in heavy clay.

I tend to zap mine in the microwave these days and then sauté.   

Perhaps if your soil is very damp it is worth growing them on a ridge for extra drainage.   Have you tried drying off your potatoes between digging them up and cooking them?

I micro all of my potatoes and they are cooked just right. It also preserves the flavour and colour.

Lots of information for you! But yes to rescue this year's crop as well as planning ahead - try cooking them for less time, as others have said. Steaming or pan frying can avoid the mush. When very fresh from the ground, they are very quick to cook.

I dug up some pink fir apple this weekend, cut them into thick slices and pan fried them. I expected it to takes ages and they were done within about 5 minutes.

However if you have really got floury types, they might still mush up and make a mess of your pan, but maybe mix a bit of gravy and corned beef in with it and pretend you did it on purpose? 

I've started using my pressure cooker for my mash, when the cooker reaches it correct pressure turn the gas down for 10 mins then switch the heat off , the pressure releases after another 10 – 15 mins. They are then ready to mash, always works great.

I grew some British Queen this year which apparently (under a different name!) are the favourite potato in Ireland. One minute in boiling water and they are mush. Steaming - perhaps five minutes and they collapse. But they roast very nicely.

I won't grow them again.