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Did you know that potatoes are the largest food crop grown in the world other than grains?
Hi, I'm Jarrett from Stone Soup Farm, and this is how to harvest and store potatoes.
Potato plants are very fast growing, and they'll grow mostly in the spring and during the middle
of the summer, and then they kind of peter out and they die back real quick, the plant
part above ground, leaving the potatoes below ground. We're here at the field in a harvest
stage. You can see that these plants are almost completely dead now. They have gone through
their cycle, but the potatoes are still under there. So, to get em' out we'll take a shovel.
We're going to place them far enough away from the plant so that we're not going to
risk too much damaging the potatoes themselves. And try to get real deep under there, sort
of lift it up, and then pull through. Then, you'll find the potatoes under there. Once
you have the potatoes it's important to be relatively gentle with them. You don't want
to be throwin' them around or scarring up the outside, because any breaks in the skin
can cause infections in the potato that would lead to rot later on. Potatoes would appreciate
the most being stored in a cool, dry area; not too cold, but not too warm either and
if undamaged and in the proper conditions they should store for about two to four months,
depending on the variety. At that point they'll start to sprout, and even after they've sprouted
you can still eat them but you should take the sprouts off. Otherwise, you can can or
refrigerate them, but be careful with refrigerating them, because as soon as you take them out
they're going to start to rot relatively quickly. So, I'm Jarrett from Stone Soup Farm, and
that's how to harvest and store potatoes.