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I eat about one potato per day, prepared as one-cup of mashed (with raw milk, butter and salt). I split this cup of potato up as two servings during the day (only half a cup per serving).
Store uncooked/unpeeled potatoes in a room-cool dark room, open but dark. On a table between construction paper (or paper grocery bags) to keep them dark in clean basements, or cool dark porches are good if mice and pests are not a problem.
DO NOT STORE potatoes in the refrigerator! This much cool changes the potato starches into more sugars and the potatoes can then give hyperglycemic responses to some people.
Put a paper down on the table in the dark cool room space, and then the potatoes on top of that. Cover the potatoes with another paper. DO NOT USE PLASTIC for any storage!
Some farmers put sand in a large bin in their cellar-cool dark storage area and cover the storage potatoes with sand. It’s the same idea–keeping light away from the potatoes and keeping them cool. Use an UN-covered metal bin or pail.
Though they might just start to sprout seed eyes, if the potatoes are grown and stored correctly, they often are good up to 6 months.
DO NOT REFRIGERATE raw/unpeeled potatoes. This will change some of the starches to sugars and the potatoes will no longer be optimal food.
DO NOT STORE raw/unpeeled potatoes IN A CLOSED PANTRY. They will begin to not only sprout, but will ripen too fast and rot and not last as long. An open area is best.
When choosing fresh potatoes from the store or farmer, look for NOT GREEN potatoes.
Green potatoes are not unripe potatoes, they turn green from being stored incorrectly after harvest. The green occurs from being stored in strong light, usually strong fluorescent lights of warehouses and stores. The research suggests that green potatoes are toxic.
Grocery stores of all kinds are notorious for using “tricky” lights that mask blemishes and for potatoes particularly, mask the green.
HACK: I have taken to bringing a small LED flashlight to the grocery store to view the potatoes. It’s not perfect but it can definitely highlight if green is forming on potatoes.
When choosing potatoes from the store from a large table or bin, choose potatoes from the bottom of the potato stack if possible. They will have been exposed to the least light.
I suggest do NOT purchase potatoes that come already in a bag. The red potatoes will use red color plastic to hide the potatoes. The yellow potatoes bag will use yellow etc.
I get duped with this more than I’d like to admit!
When I get home and open the bags, almost always, and especially these days with supply issues, more than half the potatoes will be entirely green or otherwise spoiled and have to be thrown away, the rest will be so tiny as to be hard to peel. Be warned! Hand choose your potatoes when possible.
If you have them home and discover the green and are unable to return them to the store, peel off as much of the green as possible and discard the green parts before cooking. If the potato is heavily green, THROW IT AWAY.
Do use fresh, “know your farmer“, organic or nutritious/pesticide free farmer-grown, raw and peeled potatoes for your daily meals, and not the dried, instant versions unless you are needing to use emergency rations.
Do NOT choose ANY NON-GMO because of the glyphosate poisoning problem.
And the statement is for NON….GMO. Though the stores hype Non-GMO as safe and clean, it is the WORST for contamination.
As for dried or instant potatoes, even when or if, the box of instant mashed is labeled “organic”, often chemical washes, like magnesium chloride or citric acid is used to keep the flakes white. These chemicals do not have to be disclosed.
Look around for your local farmers and local food co-ops for sources of good potatoes and other real food.
Sometimes you can find links online by searching for your city and food co-ops or state food co-ops. Westin Price might have links to some near you.
Once you find your raw milk farm, they can lead you to other farmers that grow the potatoes, the carrots, provide meat.
The most important thing to remember about food is “Know Your Farmer“.
Organic labels, while they MAYBE can mean less-contaminated, are not regulated and that entire labeling industry is fraudulent and corrupt.
So start talking to people. Ask them how they treat their food animals, how they grow their food, what pesticides they use.
Potatoes are an excellent source of protein, vitamins and minerals.
When eaten in smaller amounts during meals, there is a healing, more digestible reaction that happens.
Some people who might have digestion problems with potatoes (other than insulin problems from improperly stored potatoes) could find them more digestible by boiling the potatoes for at least 40 minutes (and spilling away all the cook water).
Adding the butter (saturated fat– coconut oil is good too) and milk, the chemistry of the potato is changed and many find this food then a wonderful source of protein and nutrition.
Choose chemical pesticide-free grown ONLY. Potatoes are otherwise pretty toxic from pesticides.
If you eat out, ok, but try to detoxify with the raw carrot salad often.—Ray Peat books, newsletters, consultations, other sources.
On Sundays, I prepare a batch of mashed potatoes that will be completely ready during the week for consuming.
I can then re-heat them in a toaster oven (NOT MICROWAVE) slightly before eating.
I like to use the yellow/Yukon version because they usually mash and store in the fridge without getting gummy over time.
I use about 4 pounds per week, peeled (about 3 pounds worth after peeling, or 8-10 smallish-medium sized potatoes), cut-up, well-boiled (40 minutes) until soft (DO NOT USE THE COOK WATER, throw that away), and mashed with butter, powdered salt and fresh RAW milk using a heavy duty electric hand mixer. (These vintage hand mixers can still readily be found online at such places as eBay or Etsy).
You want enough raw potatoes to cook and mash up to about 7 cups of mash.
I peel the potatoes and discard the peelings. Some believe the peelings have nutrition but they also can carry soil toxins, even the organic ones, and some people experience intestinal irritation eating the peels.
Depending on the size of the potatoes you are peeling, you will end up with maybe even up to a pound of just peelings to discard.
So try to have about 3 to 3-1/2 pounds of already peeled and cut up potatoes left in your pot.
Spoon one cup of the finished mashed potatoes each into 6 small glass mason jars and put in the fridge. There usually is one potato portion left that I eat on Sunday after having made them.
4 pounds potatoes (about 3-1/2 pounds after peeling, 8-10 smallish-medium sized potatoes)
2 cups very fresh, raw milk (only very fresh raw milk day-old, or the potatoes might not last the week)
4-5 TBLE butter
1 TBLE or so POWDERED salt
The mixture should beat up to the consistency of thick-ish, pourable batter. As they cool, the potatoes will further thicken.
HACK:
Use a bit larger pot than the potatoes amount. You want about 2” left from the top of the pot to the top of the potatoes.
Cut peeled potatoes (or whole) should be covered with clean water the whole 30 minutes or so of boiling. I cover them about an inch over their cutup tops at the start.
Because the boiling water starts to evaporate during the cooking, at the end of the cook time there still should be water mostly covering the cooked potatoes.
After peeling the potatoes, I think cutting them up into smaller pieces/cubes, makes them cook faster and more evenly.
Boiling potatoes have a tendency to boil over. This boiling over can be reduced or stopped by not filling the pan over-full and by leaving the lid off the pan while cooking.
I like to start the potatoes on High heat stove setting. I stir a couple times as the water is coming to a boil. As SOON as the boiling starts, I lower the temp to Medium heat where it will stay until finished.
The pot lid is off the whole time.
At this point, I also use the inverted lid and large cook spoon to scoop out any excess starch foam that forms on the top of the cook water in the first few minutes and rinse it down the drain.
Use the lid otherwise, only at the end for helping to drain the water off the cooked potatoes at the end of cooking. Discard the water after cooking.
HACK:
Place your mixing bowl into the sink to use the electric mixer. You will keep your arms more downward that way and help alleviate stress and pain on your shoulders, neck and upper back. And it will reduce the splatters around the countertop.
With the raw milk, I find this final prepared mash makes about 7 cups of mashed potatoes.
I eat one cup per day, but eaten 1/2 cup at a time in two different meals (lunch and dinner).
Again, the butter and milk adds a small amount of good fat and protein to the high protein of the potato and can stabilize high blood sugar reactions.
Of course you could make a baked potato, or a warm, boiled and cubed potato, or a fried potato…. Be sure to add butter or coconut oil to any version. ONLY use a real stove/oven/toaster oven/pot to cook and prepare them, NEVER a microwave. and reduce your portion of the amount eaten.
The mashed potatoes, prepared ahead and if using yellow potatoes, don’t change their texture much when mashed with the milk and butter, and are a great way to not have to wait for a potato to cook when you are hungry.
It’s also the best way to experience the wholeness and healing of the potato, which is the point, when it’s chemically altered a bit to work better with our biology—namely with boiling/cooking it for at least 40 minutes and the addition of both raw milk and butter in the potato.
And NEVER use a microwave oven to cook your potatoes. It will change the entire molecular structure of the food and cause your body harm when ingested. In no way can real food be medicine if it’s EVER prepared in a microwave oven for any length of time or purpose.
