Types: One Potato, Blue Potato
Subject: One Potato, Blue Potato
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: Boron Elgar (boron_elgar at hotmail.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:46:58 -0500
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Thanksgiving was strictly a tight family affair, with only The Hub, the kids and I around the table.
There are many dishes that are traditional to this meal - each family member has a favorite or expected side dish that I do my best to accommodate.
Well, I really changed something this year....I knew the table setting would be on a blue cloth and the good china has blue in it, so I decided to make the mashed potatoes out of blues. They are really more purplish than blue, sort of like blueberries, but the resulting bowl of mashed 'taters really blended in well with the setting. We joked about it.
The taste was no different from "regular" mashed potatoes, and two of the three kids (not kids, actually, two are 19 and one is 23) got a big kick out of them. The third offspring was very unhappy and he is truly the mashed fan. He could not get past the color.
Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction did you get?
From: hahabogus (invalid at null.null)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:04:01 GMT
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Boron Elgar wrote:
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction
> did you get?
I also wouldn't be able to get passed the colour. The colour is as important as the smell, taste and texture to many people and sadly or happily mashed potatoes need to be white-ish in my food mind set. And I'm not that big a fan of mashed spuds. I rarely eat mashed (maybe 6 times a year), I'm more of a baked or boiled spud fan. Now I think, (not that I've tried them) that baked I might quite like the blue spuds.
From: Boron Elgar (boron_elgar at hotmail.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:26:53 -0500
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hahabogus wrote:
>I also wouldn't be able to get passed the colour. The colour is as
>important as the smell, taste and texture to many people and sadly or
>happily mashed potatoes need to be white-ish in my food mind set. And I'm
>not that big a fan of mashed spuds. I rarely eat mashed (maybe 6 times a
>year), I'm more of a baked or boiled spud fan. Now I think, (not that I've
>tried them) that baked I might quite like the blue spuds.
Our standard potato for mashed is Yukon Gold, so we avoid the stark white ones, anyway.
And remember, 80% of the diners at our Thanksgiving table thought the blues were swell.
From: The Ranger (cuhulain_-98 at yahoo.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:43:57 -0800
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Boron Elgar wrote:
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed?
> What reaction did you get?
I've roasted, boiled, and mashed these purple beauties. I like them prepared every way but really enjoy watching people's reactions when these are set before them.
The first time the daughter-units were completely underwhelmed with my testing these purple spuds on them and voiced their collective derision loudly. SWMBO reserving judgment until after the meal and everyone had gone off so she could explain the importance of visual presentations in private... I'm a liberal among conservatives when it comes to foods and trying new things; it's a heavy cross but I can bear it for a little longer.
After a few meals of mixing reds, Yukons, whites, and purples together for roasted potatoes or in stews, I moved on to a single side of mashed. The purples dyed everything they touched; hands, counters, sink... But the daughter-units found them better tasting than Idahos for mashed potatoes.
They're now part of our regular smooth-skinned potatoes rotation for stews, mashed, and roasted.
From: Nunya Bidnits (nunyabidnits at att.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 12:09:49 -0600
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The Ranger wrote:
> After a few meals of mixing reds, Yukons, whites, and purples
> together for roasted potatoes or in stews, I moved on to a single
> side of mashed. The purples dyed everything they touched; hands,
> counters, sink... But the daughter-units found them better tasting
> than Idahos for mashed potatoes.
So if I use them to make hash browns, are they hash blues?
Seriously, when they are peeled do they discolor like regular brown potatoes? And I am assuming that cooking does not alter the color as it does with some other unusual color vegetables, even if cooked with skin on. (For example, purple string beans, which revert to green when cooked.)
MartyB in KC
From: The Ranger (cuhulain_-98 at yahoo.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:43:34 -0800
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Nunya Bidnits wondered aloud:
> So if I use them to make hash browns, are they hash blues?
Purple hash.
> Seriously, when they are peeled do they discolor like
> regular brown potatoes?
Yes and no... When roasted, they brown darker than a red or Yukon. When peeled, they'll stain your hands, sink, and counter purple but also leach the color into the stew. They don't turn "white" (or not that I've noticed) so they don't revert to a natural color. And when mashed, they'll definitely lighten in color -- like you added a couple drops of food coloring.
From: blake murphy (blakepm at verizon.net)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:08:00 GMT
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The Ranger wrote:
>Yes and no... When roasted, they brown darker than a red or Yukon.
>When peeled, they'll stain your hands, sink, and counter purple
>but also leach the color into the stew. They don't turn "white"
>(or not that I've noticed) so they don't revert to a natural
>color. And when mashed, they'll definitely lighten in color --
>like you added a couple drops of food coloring.
it sounds like they'd have to be a *lot* better tasting to mess with them.
From: kilikini (kilikini1 at NOSPAMhotmail.com)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:49:49 -0500
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Boron Elgar wrote:
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction
> did you get?
I had those when I was a kid one time. I thought they were cool (purple used to be my favorite color). I was probably about 10. My mom made mashed out of them, too. :~)
From: Wayne Boatwright (wayneboatwright at cox.net)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 16:24:10 GMT
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Oh pshaw, Boron Elgar meant to say...
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction
> did you get?
There have been studies done where foods, such as mashed potatoes, have been artificially colored in some color not usually natural for that food. Many people seemed to have a problem with eating those foods.
From: Miche (micheinnz at gee-mail.com)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:07:37 +1300
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Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> There have been studies done where foods, such as mashed potatoes, have
> been artificially colored in some color not usually natural for that food.
> Many people seemed to have a problem with eating those foods.
I had a flatmate who used to turn the food he cooked all sorts of interesting colours, using bottled food colouring. It made dinnertime a surprise every time.
From: Serene (serene at serenepages.org)
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:57:30 -0800
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Boron Elgar wrote:
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction
> did you get?
I haven't mashed them yet, but now I really want to. I do make potato salad with them, though, and people seem to love it.
From: Julie Bove (juliebove at verizon.net)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 05:49:52 GMT
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Boron Elgar wrote:
> Anyone else ever use these potatoes for making mashed? What reaction
> did you get?
I put them in stew once. I couldn't get past the color. And gaaaaaaaah! I just now realized I am getting them in my organic produce box next week. Meant to sub something else for them and forgot. I already finalized my choices. Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to disguise them. Maybe in a soup mixed with other potatoes? I don't know.
From: sf
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 07:25:06 -0800
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Julie Bove wrote:
>I put them in stew once. I couldn't get past the color. And gaaaaaaaah! I
>just now realized I am getting them in my organic produce box next week.
>Meant to sub something else for them and forgot. I already finalized my
>choices. Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to disguise them. Maybe
>in a soup mixed with other potatoes? I don't know.
Good luck. If you didn't like the color in stew, I don't think soup will fare any better. Learn to love blue. ;) Too bad a patriotic holiday isn't coming up soon.
From: Boron Elgar (boron_elgar at hotmail.com)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:39:43 -0500
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sf wrote:
>Good luck. If you didn't like the color in stew, I don't think soup
>will fare any better. Learn to love blue. ;) Too bad a patriotic
>holiday isn't coming up soon.
I also made scalloped potatoes for the dinner, as one of the boys adores them, and contemplated layering the russets and the blues.