We eat a lot of potatoes. But I had no clue just how many. I was sure, what I canned last time would last a while. I was wrong. So, I ordered more potatoes, and went back to work. This time, I’ll explain it all.

I’ve been preserving a lot of food lately. I’ve frozen and dried kale for winter use, learned a new much easier way of canning tomatoes (I’ll teach you next time), and dried a bunch of oyster mushrooms from a local farm.

Some of my jars have opened. (Did it have to be the plums?!) But that doesn’t stop me from canning more. I’ll learn 🙂 Every time, I get a little better at actually preserving things.

Next year, I hope to grow and preserve most of our own food. I’m more than excited. But for now, let’s talk about potatoes, shall we?

I usually take the chopping work into the living room, because I can sit on the floor there. I cut fries and cubes, and peel the thicker skins.

Everything has to be super clean, so I clean the bowls for soaking, and (after sterilizing my sink and dish cloth), clean every single jar thoroughly. I want no more jars to open.

Lucky for me, chopped potatoes are fine in water for a few hours. Giving me time to prep the canner, and chop a lot more potatoes. I fill each jar carefully to get as many potatoes in as possible.

The small jars are 500 mL (about 2 cups), and the larger ones are liter/quart jars. The small ones are for single-portion meals, the large ones for shared meals for two.

I add one teaspoon of salt to each small jar, two to the large ones. For waterbath canning, these need some vinegar for acidity. I use one tablespoon for the small jars, two for the large ones.

After sterilizing the seals and lids in boiling vinegar water, I add two clips to each jar.

Somehow, everything always happens at once. Canning, pickling, dinner. My kitchen is tiny, so this takes quite a bit of creative chaos (and even more cleanup). Our kitchen ceiling light has been out for a week or two despite being an LED… As surgery was unsuccessful, I’ll have to get a new lamp.

In the meantime, I’m glad to own camping gear…

As the jars I ordered never arrived, and I was waiting for the new order, I tried making gnocchi from the remaining potatoes. But while I got an excellent mashed-potato dinner that night, the actual gnocchi process was not very successful or satisfying.

I’d cooked the potatoes in three batches. One apparently wasn’t fully cooked… so I kept having to take out pieces, and rolling them was a pain. There is a batch in my freezer but I’m scared to try them. Much easier to grab some canned ones…

Canned potatoes are a lot of work. But they are worth it. Doing the work in bulk is much more efficient than cooking potatoes as needed. You just open a jar, drain and dry the potatoes, and they are ready to use or even eat.

With some oil and spices in the air fryer, in stir fries, as mash or as cooked potatoes, probably even gnocchi 😉

I’ll try the gnocchi again soon. I’ve made good gnocchi before. I can do it again.

So long and thanks for being here.