[egbert]

I have just been out to dig up my first earlies - very exciting as they are my first home grown pots. Anyway, lots of lovely white potatoes came up. Just scrubbed them - very white - and put them in the pot to cook. And then checked the packet to see what they were - King Edwards

And then noticed for the first time that it said on the seed packet that they were MAIN CROP seed potatoes. So - should I not have used them as first earlies - are they unripe? Will I poison everyone if we eat them?   

I have wondered how to tell the difference between 1st earlies and main crop seed pots - now I know! Duh      Well, this is how I learn 

[egbert]

Oh well - they tasted lovely 

[little blue]

as long as they look ok, they'll probably just be smaller than if you'd left them...
glad you enjoyed them!!

[Greenerlife]

At least you knew what type you were eating!  Glad you enjoyed them - had my first Charlottes yesterday - deeeelicious! 

[Wizard]

Are you sure? King Edwards are White with pink red eyes The worry of poison from potato is mainly an old wives tale you need to eat a lot of green skin to even upset you.So don't worry Your potato's are not fully grown thats all

[sheila]

We had our first boiling today. They were very hard even though I cooked them for hours. does this mean they are not ready? and does it mean that we will be ill?

[Wizard]

Now this I have not heard of ever before Sheila.The Spacemen said "They boil them for 20 of their minutes"This I have always found long enough I cannot see why any potato would need more.Of course if it weighed a pound and a half spud and you peeled it and put it in a pan and boiled it the middle would not be cooked but in that instance you should cut it up into somewhat equal size pieces and then cook it.I cannot see any reason for a potato to give you any illness unless you ate up a lot of green skin.

[Wizard]

Hello Sheila I rang Tom last night and he told me they have gone out of potato growing.He had a chap in the yard yesterday morning and he offered Tom £35 a tonne for the last of his Desiree. Just have a look in Tesco or Morrison at their price 78p per kg to save you the bother and that is equal to £780.00 pr tonne?

[hexhammeasure]

different varieties cook differently it my be that the potato you cooked is a chipping variety. they tend to stay more solid dutring cooking whereas boilers tend to be soft and fluffy.

[Wizard]

Several farms round here grew Rekord contract for Caterpak-McCain and we used them mashed they are a potato specially bred for chips and are a very high dry matter but they are not hard when boiled or steamed but I still prefer a Majestic or King Edward  as my main crop potato

[northfifeduckling]

i find that if I mix varieties in the pot by acccident some cook fine and others stay rock hard. if you can keep them seperate you can always try par boiling the ones that take longer and then roast them in duck fat - even they will get lovely and crispy, I'm pretty sure! Or try rostis, where you grate raw ptatoes and them mix with egg, onion and flour, then pan fry. The only ones not suppposed to be eaten are green patatoes, the ones that have been too close to light for some time...