My Potatoes Taste Sweet, What Caused This and What Should I Do? (2024)

FAQs

My Potatoes Taste Sweet, What Caused This and What Should I Do? ›

Someone told you correctly! When potatoes are stored too long, in a too-cold environment (below 41°F) the starches within convert to sugar. This not only makes for an overly-sweet potato but also alters the cooking chemistry – resulting in uneven cooking performance and discoloration.

Raw potatoes should never be refrigerated because the chill converts the starch to sugar, which causes the flesh to become sweet.

Add Sour Food

Sour ingredients like curd, lemon juice, orange pulp can really help reduce the sweetness of potatoes by balancing the flavours.

What I anticipate that you are saying is a taste of dirt, is usually some sort of mold on one of the potatoes in the bag. Sometimes, rinsing the potatoes off and placing them in a bowl of water with a little concentrated lemon juice will take away the smell or taste when baked or boiled later.

During refrigeration, an enzyme in potatoes turns its natural sugar—sucrose—into glucose and fructose. This chemical reaction shifts a potato's taste and texture toward sweet and gritty, which—while not harmful to your health—can ruin a recipe.

New potatoes have thin, wispy skins and a crisp, waxy texture. They are young potatoes and unlike their fully grown counterparts, they keep their shape once cooked and cut. They are also sweeter because their sugar has not yet converted into starch, and are therefore particularly suited to salads.

Solanine also causes a bitter flavor.

How to Make Food Less Sweet. Add an acid or seasonings such as vinegar or citrus juice; chopped fresh herbs; a dash of cayenne pepper; or, for sweet dishes, a bit of liqueur or espresso powder.

If you can't do this, at a minimum, when you cut the potato, rinse the slices in a plastic bucket with running water until the water runs clear, eliminating some of the excess starch and sugar. Then blanch the potatoes before storing and finish frying.

​​Baking or roasting​

Baking or roasting potatoes at moderate temperatures helps retain their nutritional value without causing a rapid spike in blood sugar.

What is the potato taste defect? ›

What Is Potato Taste Defect? Potato Taste Defect (PTD) is caused by a chemical called 2-Isopropyl 3-methoxy pyrazine (IPMP). In its strongest instances, this potato smell can be apparent in the air at the farm, in the green coffee including the cherry and parchment, as well as the roasted and brewed product.

Keep tubers covered with soil and harvested potatoes so they are not exposed to light. Improper watering, soil pH, and environmental issues can also influence flavor. Try to water properly and consistently.

The flavor is sort of tangy and sour, not what you would expect from potatoes. It's possible that they were rotten.

When potatoes are stored too long, in a too-cold environment (below 41°F) the starches within convert to sugar. This not only makes for an overly-sweet potato but also alters the cooking chemistry – resulting in uneven cooking performance and discoloration.

Use rock salt

You can also reduce the sweetness of potatoes to a great extent with the help of rock salt.

Wash the potatoes well when you're ready to cook them. Don't store potatoes in the fridge. Raw potatoes have lots of starches, and the cold temperatures can turn the starches into sugars. This can make your potatoes turn sweeter and darker during cooking.

One thing that does happen is the potatoes firm up and are crisper when roasted. The flavor is sort of tangy and sour, not what you would expect from potatoes.

When too much starch gets released, the potatoes become gummy, gluey, and unappetizing. Overworking the potatoes can happen in a couple ways: either by simply handling them too much, or by using a food processor, blender, or similar tool, which mixes the potatoes too aggressively.

How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.

Sweet potatoes, like fine cabernets, get better with age. Fresh out of the ground, they are considered “green” and have a high degree of starch. But if handled properly, their starch converts to sugar and, when cooked, sweet potatoes live up to their sugary appellation.