Today is the first early potato day. In honor of that, potato farmer Jari Rainio advises how to store potatoes.
Jari Rainio has only hand-picked potatoes for sale at the Turku market. At the market, the products are sold directly to the consumer, so the quality must be high. Eeva Paljakka
The hottest buying season for early potatoes, i.e. Midsummer week, is approaching. Has been selling potatoes at the Turku market since the age of seven Jari Rainio knows everything possible about potato cultivation.
But in addition to that, he also knows everything about storing potatoes. Rainio immediately knocks out a delusion that he has come across many times:
– Even though many people say that potatoes keep better in a paper bag, that’s not the case. Early potatoes should never be put in a paper bag. The paper absorbs the moisture on the surface of the potato, which is why the peel catches better, Rainio explains.
Farmers often sell their own potatoes at the market. That’s when you know that the sale has been made in the best way, states Jari Rainio. Eeva Paljakka
Instead, the best storage method is a plastic bag, as long as the mouth of the bag is open.
– A potato bought at the market has a skin on it, so it stays good in the fridge for up to a week. The fresher, the better, Rainio continues.
Rainio grows his potatoes in Naantali on the Lammenranta farm. For him, growing potatoes is a craft and an art.
Frost is usually prevented by watering, but Rainio thought that when it’s cold, he himself puts on more clothes. Why not try the same with mashed potatoes. So he spread six layers of cheesecloth over the potatoes.
– It was a terrible job, but not a single seedling froze.
Rainio sees a lot of trouble in front of the potato anyway. He laughs that he makes things difficult.
Jari Rainio believes that Turku’s renovated market has every opportunity to make the area very lively. Rainio praises the reforms made at the market. Eeva Paljakka
First, Rainio thinks about what kind of soil he will plant the early potatoes in.
He makes the potato furrows with a machine, but the planting is done by hand. Rainio wants to plant the potatoes close to the ground, because the ground is still cold, but the sun warms it. In addition, when planting by hand, he places the seed potato sprouts upwards.
– I do everything by hand. I lift the potatoes with a hoe.
Hoe potatoes have a big difference compared to machine-raised potatoes, because the machine breaks the skin of the potato.
Rainio advises to buy ground potatoes, and at the same time to see that the peel is stored. If the skin is removed, the so-called skin will appear on the surface of the potato in a couple of days.
If you test the surface of the potato with your thumb and the peel comes off well, the potato has been peeled by hand.
– Small farmers make art, just like all other well-made things are.
The early potatoes are put in boiling water with plenty of (but not too much) salt. Leave the potatoes a little raw, pour off the water and let them cook under the lid until the end. Eeva Paljakka
The Annabelle variety grown in the open field of Rainio is on sale at the market at the same time as the earlier variety Timo, which grew in the greenhouse of the neighboring sales table. It is Rainio’s reward for his hard work in the field. Of course, he also receives a reward from customers who thank him for the high-quality potato.
– I only fertilize the potatoes a little, the quality of the potatoes must be high. Fertilization does give a big harvest, but at the same time the quality suffers.
This year, the entire early potato harvest in Finland is taxed by the frosty nights and drought at the beginning of April.
15.6. let’s celebrate early potato day for the first time.