Potatoes

Potatoes keep 1–2 months in a cool dark pantry and should not be refrigerated. That is the central rule and it surprises people.

They want somewhere cool (45–50°F is ideal), dark, dry, and ventilated — a paper or mesh bag in a cupboard, a cellar, or a garage that does not freeze. Not a sealed plastic bag, which traps moisture and rots them.

Never store potatoes next to onions. Onions give off moisture and gases that accelerate potato sprouting, and potatoes give off moisture that softens onions. This is one of the most commonly repeated bits of kitchen advice and it happens to be correct.

Keep them in the dark. Light exposure turns potatoes green and produces solanine.

Raw potatoes do not freeze — they turn black and mealy. Cooked or blanched potatoes freeze fine.

Refrigerating potatoes causes a specific chemical change called cold-induced sweetening. Below about 40°F, the potato converts its starch into reducing sugars. The potato is still safe, but it tastes noticeably sweet and, more importantly, those sugars react with the amino acid asparagine during high-temperature cooking to form acrylamide — a compound classified as a probable human carcinogen. This is why the FDA advises storing potatoes somewhere cool but above refrigerator temperature, and why refrigerated potatoes brown too fast and unevenly when fried.

The other issue is solanine, a natural glycoalkaloid that potatoes produce as a defense. It concentrates in the skin, in sprouts, and in any part that has turned green from light exposure. The green itself is chlorophyll and harmless; it is simply a reliable marker that solanine has been produced alongside it. Solanine is bitter and, in quantity, genuinely toxic — causing nausea, headache, and neurological symptoms — and it is not destroyed by cooking.

The practical rule: cut away green areas and sprouts generously, and discard any potato that is extensively green, deeply sprouted, or tastes bitter.

Ordinary spoilage shows as soft or wrinkled flesh, dark mushy spots, and a musty smell. A slightly soft potato is fine; a leaking, foul-smelling one is not.