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Storing Uncooked Potatoes and Yams With No Refrigeration

3K views 25 replies 11 participants last post by  Elvis 
#1 ·
How do you go about storing store-bought potatoes and yams for long term?

How long will they keep?
 
#2 ·
No experiance with yams but potatoes store well in a cool, Dry, dark place. Root cellars and the right basements can work well.
 
#4 ·
Root cellar .
 
#8 ·
And if you don't have a cellar/basement like us folks in TX?
I've always wondered? Unless water table prevents it, why don't many southern homes have cellars?

Seems like an ideal place to hide from the heat and you won't need AC. Will need a dehumidifier. I set up a cot here in the basement for the days we get hot/humid in summer, it stays ~65-70 oF when in the 90s upstairs.

In winters it seldom gets below freezing.
 
#13 ·
I do have a sweet potato that I grew last year, still in my tater box in the kitchen. It has sprouted, but still no signs of rotting.

As others have said, potatoes (and probably sweet potatoes/yams) will keep for months in a cool dark spot and any growth cut off when you use it.

You can also make your own mini root cellar by digging a deep hole in the ground big enough to fit a metal or plastic garbage can or heavy duty tote or insulated cooler, with tight fitting lid, layer in straw with taters or apples or carrots or?? Then secure the lid against moisture & rodents, then pack more straw around it, then cover it all with dirt. IIRC about 6-12inches of each straw & dirt. I don't know if it really works, but had read about it years ago and have always wanted to try it, but I am not going to try to dig into the hard rock around here.

I have some potatoes that I bought before Covid mess started (bought 4 bags on sale and still have 1 left) that I've kept in the house in the closet (away from extreme temp fluctuations, heavy moisture and is dark) and so far, they're still good to eat. They are starting to soften & wrinkle a bit and some are sprouting...….but still very edible.
I've also stored potatoes in our outside shed and they do best if laid out in single layer during winter and the only time I've had a problem is when we've had an extended hard freeze and they froze and I picked thru & had to toss many.

You can can them, or cook & dehydrate too......just not going to have bakers
 
#14 · (Edited)
One other thing on potatoes. They will survive under ground. I get "volunteer " plants popping up each spring from taters I missed or tossed aside for defects.

But a mound/stash needs to be covered and protected from rodents. Straw/leaves will insulate the mound. Have not tried to protect as such from vermin

I do know a few years I was late digging up some nice potato hills, they had been full of taters, but were then a mouse rookery. I got about zero usable taters and stomped or clubed dozens of mice with the potato fork.

Edit: College days and no money. 50 lbs potatoes were $3. You can do a lot with potatoes: baked, boiled, fried , homefries, leftovers.......

We put the 50 lb paper bags in cellars coldest room, inside a new/clean garbage can with top off. That works good too. Top on taters will rot, they need to breathe. Don't store them in store brought plastic, transfer to paper shopping bags.

In my root cellar now, I sort potatoes for storage by variety and "grade". Then they go into labeled paper shopping bags on the shelves. Shopping bags are ideal storage, they breathe and block light. I eat up low grade stuff that might spoil first, save the best for next springs seed potatoes
 
#21 ·
To answer your question about basements in part of the south, in south Texas it’s the water table. Probably Florida’s too. Where I live I can dig down a few feet and easily hit water. Not well water mind you but water none the less. Also in many parts of the south we have a type of clay that expands and contracts and would crush a basement. We also have a difficult limestone bedrock in many places that is hard to dig through where in northern locations it’s mainly “dirt”.

As to the north having basements, you need all those pipes below the frost/freeze line (about 6+ feet).
 
#23 ·
To answer your question about basements in part of the south, in south Texas it's the water table. Probably Florida's too. Where I live I can dig down a few feet and easily hit water. Not well water mind you but water none the less. Also in many parts of the south we have a type of clay that expands and contracts and would crush a basement. We also have a difficult limestone bedrock in many places that is hard to dig through where in northern locations it's mainly "dirt".

As to the north having basements, you need all those pipes below the frost/freeze line (about 6+ feet).
Hundreds of years ago you'd not build on water soaked ground, now it's building code here.

We have best limestone here, it's either quarryed or crushed, dolmitic limestone, high in Mg.
 
#26 ·
I've seen online where people buried a old deaf fridge or chest freezer in the ground and cover with about 18" of straw. But there is no air circulation so the moisture gets too high. So later they ran a 4" diameter plastic pipe out the side and up above ground level with a cap to keep the rain out but allow some air flow.

Not as good as a root cellar but better than storing inside the house.
 
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