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To Peel Potatoes or Not? It’s Really Easy With This Trick

Some say potatoes should be peeled, others advise against it. We reveal what’s really true and show a trick you can use to peel potatoes in a flash.

You can conjure up many delicious dishes from potatoes: baked potatoes, potato gratin or simple boiled potatoes. The tuber is versatile, tasty and healthy. When preparing the potatoes, many people ask themselves: should I rather peel the potatoes or can I eat them with the skin on?

Toxins in the potato peel

In addition to nutrients and roughage, the potato peel also contains toxic glycoalkaloids: a-solanine and a-chaconine. These toxins occur naturally in the potato. They are mainly concentrated in the skin and in the germ. Inside the potato, on the other hand, there are significantly fewer toxins.

Glycoalkaloids are heat stable but water soluble. This means: High temperatures do not affect the toxins. If, on the other hand, you cook the potatoes in boiling water, the substances are removed from the skin.

Our commercially available potato varieties naturally do not contain any concentrations of these toxic substances that are harmful to health. The actual content of these substances is additionally influenced by several factors:
Unripe potatoes contain more toxins than ripe potatoes
Damage (e.g. during transport) and light favor the formation of toxins
If potatoes are stored too warm or too cold, more toxins are also formed
So if your potatoes are ripe, undamaged and stored properly, you don’t have to worry about the glycoalkaloids.

Potato peel protects the nutrients and flavors

Potatoes contain a lot of vitamins B and C. However, some of these vitamins are lost during cooking. The potato skin acts as a barrier when cooking: If you cook your potatoes with the skin, fewer flavors and nutrients are released into the water. This means that more of these valuable substances remain in the potato.

To peel or not to peel potatoes?

Although there is a significant amount of glycoalkaloids in the skin, you don’t necessarily have to peel potatoes. The Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection confirms that potatoes can be eaten with their skins without hesitation as long as they are of “normal quality”.

If you still want to peel the potatoes, we recommend that you only peel them after cooking. In this way, the potatoes retain as many nutrients and flavors as possible. Make sure, however, that you use the potatoes soon after cooking so that you don’t lose any more flavor and nutrients unnecessarily.

Green spots are an indication of increased levels of toxins. Therefore, cut out the green areas generously. Very green potatoes should be discarded entirely.

Trick: peeling potatoes made easy

You can easily peel potatoes with the following instructions:
Wash the potatoes and score the skin all over with a sharp knife.
Boil the potatoes until they are done. Make sure that the potatoes are not overcooked, otherwise they may fall apart when you peel them.
Place the cooked potatoes in ice water and chill for at least 10 seconds.
You can then simply peel off the peel either with your fingers or with a knife.
You can actually peel potatoes quite easily using this method. However, this isn’t magic either, and the peel won’t always come off “in one go”. Especially if the potato is a bit misshapen or has small “spots”, you will definitely have to touch up some areas.

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Eating Sweet Potatoes Raw: What Speaks For and What Speaks Against it

You can eat sweet potatoes raw, but not regular potatoes. But what about the unhealthy oxalic acid in sweet potatoes? Here’s how healthy raw sweet potatoes really are.

Eat sweet potatoes raw: That’s why they’re the better potatoes

It sounds paradoxical: while you should never eat potatoes raw, that’s no problem with sweet potatoes. But the reason is obvious: sweet potatoes are not potatoes at all. Instead, sweet potatoes belong to the morning glory family and not to the nightshade family like the potato. So sweet potatoes are much more of a root. Compared to potatoes, sweet potatoes also contain no solanine. This is the toxic substance, which is why you should not eat potatoes raw.

Sweet potatoes contain many healthy ingredients. While some are broken down during cooking and baking, when consumed raw you can benefit from:
Carotenoids and anthocyanins (antioxidants)
Potassium (helps against stress, among other things)
Minerals such as calcium, zinc and iron
Vitamin A (good for the eyes)
Vitamin C (strengthens the immune system)
Vitamin E (protects against free radicals)
lots of carbohydrates with a high fiber content, which keeps you full for longer.
Basically, you can eat sweet potatoes raw and benefit from the many good ingredients. However, it contains oxalic acid, which can be harmful to humans.

Oxalic Acid in Sweet Potatoes – What Does It Mean?

Sweet potatoes contain quite a lot of oxalic acid. This damages the kidneys, but can be broken down by boiling or long soaking. At the same time, oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of magnesium, calcium and iron. For this reason, you should be careful not to consume excessive amounts of foods high in oxalic acid. So you can eat sweet potatoes raw, but in moderation and not by the kilo.

The combination is also important: For example, calcium promotes oxalic acid absorption. So when you combine calcium-rich foods like broccoli with sweet potatoes, the oxalic acid will be balanced. You can also combine kale, soy strips or sesame seeds.

According to the Bavarian consumer advice center, it is not a problem to eat sweet potatoes raw from time to time: “Unlike table potatoes, sweet potatoes can also be served raw as finger food or in a salad,” says nutrition expert Silke Noll from the consumer advice center.

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Are Potatoes Healthy? Carbohydrates, Calories and Other Nutritional Values

Here you can find out how healthy the potato is and how you can use it in the kitchen.

Potatoes: calories, carbohydrates and other nutritional values

Because potatoes are relatively high in carbohydrates for a vegetable (about 15 grams per 100 grams), they are often mistakenly labeled as unhealthy fattening foods. Compared to other carbohydrate sources such as rice or pasta, they have significantly fewer calories: 100 grams of boiled potatoes contain around 70 kilocalories, while 100 grams of boiled pasta contain twice as many calories.

The relatively low calorie content of the potato is due to the fact that it is about 78 percent water. In addition, it contains almost no fat. 100 grams of potatoes provide you with two grams of protein and two grams of fiber.

Potatoes also contain many important micronutrients, such as significant amounts of various B vitamins, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

When are potatoes healthy? You should note that

When raw, the starch contained in potatoes is very difficult for humans to digest. In addition, raw potatoes contain toxins that have a negative effect on your health. Therefore, they should only be enjoyed when cooked.

If you buy potatoes, you should use organically grown potatoes. These contain no pesticides, which harm you and the environment. Since pesticides are particularly found in and on the skins of potatoes, you should not eat conventional products unpeeled. With organic potatoes, you don’t have to worry: the skins of the potatoes even provide you with an extra portion of fiber.

When it comes to potatoes, you can also easily pay attention to regional goods. The tubers are harvested between June and October, but since they can be stored well, they are available from German cultivation all year round.

This is how you use the healthy potato in the kitchen

Potatoes are part of many traditional dishes and are often used as a filling side dish. You can prepare the tuber in different ways:
Fry potatoes in oil, onions, herbs and spices in the pan to get tasty fried potatoes.
Boiled in salted water, potatoes with some herbal quark and cucumber salad make a delicious and nutritious meal. Boiled potatoes are also the basis for a classic potato salad.
If you mash or mash the tuber after cooking, you will get mashed potatoes or mashed potatoes, depending on the consistency, which you can refine with spices, herbs and (vegan) butter.
Cut potatoes into sticks, mix them with some oil and spices and put them in the oven for healthy fries that don’t require a lot of fat and flavor enhancers. You can also cook potatoes in the oven in other delicious ways.
You can make your own gnocchi from floury potatoes, and a Bavarian potato salad with cucumber from waxy potatoes.
Potatoes are therefore not only a versatile and regional food: They are also very filling and provide you with a considerable portion of vitamins, fiber and minerals. You can also make the tuber tasty in different ways for children.

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Cooking Tips

Peel Sweet Potatoes: is it Necessary?

Peeling sweet potatoes is not necessary in most cases. In this guide, we explain why unpeeled sweet potatoes are even healthier.

Even if the name suggests otherwise, sweet potatoes are not related to ordinary potatoes: They taste different, look different, belong to a different plant family and can almost always be eaten with their skins – unlike regular potatoes, which contain toxins such as glycoalkaloids can stick in the shell.

By not peeling your sweet potatoes, you not only save time and avoid food waste. You are also doing something good for your health. We’ll tell you why unpeeled sweet potatoes are healthier.

Sweet potatoes: Even healthier without peeling

The sweet potato is full of valuable nutritional values: the roots are rich in fiber, minerals such as potassium and magnesium, vitamin A and vitamin C and are also a good source of vegetable protein

You should therefore avoid peeling sweet potatoes for the following reasons:
In and directly under the skin there are many important nutrients of the healthy root. For example, the peel is particularly rich in fiber and vitamins
In addition, the skin of the sweet potato also contains phenolic acid, a secondary plant substance. Phenolic acid has an antioxidant effect and thus protects against free radicals.
According to a 2016 study, the peel even contains substances that can prevent cancer.
Especially when you cook sweet potatoes, the skin also protects the nutrients inside the root.
Especially with sweet potato fries or wedges from the oven, the skin forms a crust that not only looks pretty, but also tastes delicious.
You can also leave the skin on when grilling sweet potatoes.
Not peeling saves you another step and therefore time.
In addition, it is also more sustainable not to peel sweet potatoes: by using the whole root, you avoid unnecessary waste.

Don’t peel sweet potatoes: You should pay attention to this

If you want to eat sweet potatoes with skin, you should only pay attention to the following points:
Whenever possible, buy organic sweet potatoes. This is not only good for the environment, but also guarantees you healthy vegetables without pesticide residues. Pesticides can otherwise possibly be deposited on the shell.
Wash the roots thoroughly before processing them: it is best to clean them under water with a vegetable brush. For a particularly thorough cleaning, you can also use baking soda
Cut off about ½ an inch from both ends of the sweet potatoes. The ends often taste bitter.
If the sweet potato has already formed sprouts, you should cut them off before eating.

Peel sweet potatoes: This is the best way

Depending on your taste, it can sometimes still make sense to peel the sweet potatoes – for example if you want to mash them without any pieces. In this case you have two options:
Either you peel the root vegetables in the classic way with a vegetable peeler, as you would with other vegetables. Of course you can also use a sharp knife – but then you should be particularly careful to only cut away the peel and not even more from the healthy root.
Or you can boil the sweet potatoes whole first, including the skin, and then remove them. Once cooked, sweet potatoes are particularly easy to peel. Most of the time you can just pull the shell off. Another advantage of the method: the shell protects the nutrients during cooking.
Either way, don’t throw away the bowl. You can use them in vegetable broth or soups. Alternatively, you can feed them to animals like horses or rabbits, or at least compost them.

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Purple Potatoes: Characteristics and Peculiarities of The Colorful Tuber

Purple potatoes bring variety to your plate and also help to preserve the diversity of varieties. The extraordinary potatoes are becoming increasingly popular. Here you can find out what makes the purple tubers so special.

Purple, blue or red: potatoes come in different colors and shapes. Nature offers an incredible variety of fruits and vegetables. Rare varieties such as purple potatoes can seem downright alien. At first glance, you might think they are artificially colored.

It’s just an old variety. In most cases, varieties are grown that are as productive and robust as possible. Other varieties, such as purple potatoes, are less common – with them, the variety in our supermarkets and on our plates is dwindling.

Incidentally, conventionally grown fruit and vegetables are often contaminated with harmful pesticides. Producers often exploit land and people so that they can offer their goods as cheaply as possible. As a consumer, you can counteract this by buying organic fruit and vegetables, growing them yourself and supporting small farmers in your region.

Purple potatoes: There are these different varieties

There is also a selection of different varieties of purple potatoes. They differ not only in their shapes and colors, but also vary in taste and consistency.

Some of the best-known purple potato varieties include:
The Vitelotte: It is characterized by its dark skin and strong, nutty taste.
Bleu de la Manche: The variety has a blue-violet skin and is very popular in France because of its fine taste.
Salad Blue: As the name suggests, the variety is particularly good for salads. Due to its intense dark violet color, it stands out visually.

How to prepare purple potatoes

Just like their yellow relatives, purple potatoes can be divided into floury and waxy varieties. Basically, you can use them in the kitchen just like conventional yellow potatoes.

Mealy purple potatoes are particularly good in mashed potatoes, potato soup, potato casseroles or baked potatoes. For potato salad, homemade fries or fried potatoes, on the other hand, you should rather use the waxy version.

Cook purple potatoes whole with their skins on to keep their intense color. Use as little water as possible to cook the potatoes: the coloring substances dissolve easily in the water. Mealy potatoes tend to lose more color than waxy ones. If you bought the potatoes in organic quality, you can easily eat the skin when they are cooked.

With purple potatoes you can not only bring a variety of tastes to your plate. Their unusual color turns even simple potato recipes into real eye-catchers.

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Red Potatoes: This Distinguishes Them From Other Potato Varieties

Red potatoes bring variety to your plate both visually and in terms of taste. In addition, the dye it contains is said to be beneficial for your health. We will give you all the information and tips on how to prepare it.

There are not only the classic yellow potatoes: in addition to purple potatoes, red potatoes are particularly popular.

Red potatoes are by no means new. Most of them are old varieties that have almost been forgotten. In conventional agriculture, the cultivation of rare varieties is hardly worthwhile. Modern potato cultivation focuses exclusively on high-yielding varieties that can be stored well.

Red potatoes: varieties and growing tips

Like the yellow potatoes, their red relatives also come from South America, but you can also plant red potatoes yourself in this country. They also grow here in Germany and the cultivation hardly differs from conventional potatoes.

However, the yellow potatoes are much more robust than the red varieties. Good care is important for a rich harvest: Enrich the soil well with compost and provide the plants with sufficient water, especially during flowering.

There are some red potato varieties that are also suitable for your garden. Basically, you can distinguish between two categories:
Potatoes with red skin and light flesh
Laura: It is a very popular red variety because it stores well. The variety is predominantly waxy and retains its consistency. The peel is very fine, so you don’t need to peel it.
Linzer Rose: This variety is particularly common in Austria and is characterized by its creamy flesh. It can also be stored well and germinates late.
Desiree: The Desiree red potato produces large lush tubers that cook floury.

Red potatoes – particularly healthy thanks to their colour

The potatoes get their color from the plant pigment anthocyanin, which is one of the flavonoids. In 2017, the Food and Nutrition Research team did a comprehensive study of the phytochemical and its health benefits. The dye works, among other things:
antioxidant
anti-cancerous
antimicrobial
preventive against cardiovascular diseases
against obesity
This makes the colorful tubers even healthier than their yellow relatives. Otherwise, they hardly differ from conventional potatoes in terms of their nutritional values. The tubers are high in carbohydrates, but due to their high water content, they are low in calories compared to other carbohydrate sources. Some red varieties contain slightly more starch than their yellow counterparts.

Prepare red potatoes

Red potatoes add variety and color to your plate. In terms of taste, they are often described as nutty and spicier than yellow potatoes. Here, too, the taste varies depending on the variety. As with yellow potatoes, a distinction is made in the preparation according to the consistency:
Waxy potatoes are particularly suitable for:
fried potatoes
potato salad
homemade fries
You use floury potatoes for:
baked potatoes
Mashed potatoes
potato casserole
The anthocyanin contained remains even after cooking, but the color fades slightly because the dye is water-soluble. The following tips will help you to preserve the color:
Boil the potatoes whole with the skin on. You only need a little water for this. The peel protects not only the color but also the nutrients.
Alternatively, you can steam cook red potatoes. With this gentle preparation, nutrients and color are particularly well preserved.
The potatoes also keep their color well in the oven.

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Blue Potatoes: These Varieties Are One of Them

Blue potatoes are not new from the lab, they are old varieties. You can read here what makes blue potatoes so special and what varieties there are.

The dark skin and the bluish-purple flesh may seem strange at first, but blue potatoes are old varieties. There are also purple and red potatoes.

After potatoes made their way to Europe from South America in the 16th century, blue varieties were widespread. Only when more resistant and higher-yielding varieties were bred in the 19th century did the yellow varieties replace the blue potatoes.

When you buy blue potatoes, you help preserve diversity on our fields and plates. There are a number of associations and organic farmers who have made it their task to preserve old types of vegetables. There you can buy old varieties, such as blue potatoes, and seeds.

Here you can find out what makes blue potatoes so special and what varieties there are.

This is what makes blue potatoes special

According to the world, blue potatoes lower blood pressure. They owe this to the secondary plant substance anthocyanin. Not only is it responsible for the blue color, but it also has various health benefits.

In 2017, the specialist journal Food and Nutrition Research extensively examined anthocyanin for its health effects. She was able to demonstrate the following properties of the vegetable dye in isolated form:
antioxidant
anti-cancerous
antimicrobial
prevents cardiovascular diseases
has a balancing effect on cholesterol and blood sugar levels
In cultivation, the blue tubers hardly differ from conventional potatoes. However, they are often less robust and productive. They also need more care. As a result, farmers rarely grow blue potatoes on a large scale.

Blue potato varieties

There are several varieties of blue potatoes that you can plant in your garden. They differ in their color and shape as well as in their use and taste.

Blue potato varieties include:
Blue Anneliese: The variety has a smooth skin and dark blue to purple flesh. It is predominantly waxy and is suitable for potato salad and baked potatoes. Its taste is characterized by its creamy consistency and a nutty aroma.
Blue Star: Above all, the pulp makes this variety so special. It is marbled dark blue and white. It is mainly waxy and suitable for potato salad and fried potatoes.
Blue Swede: The flesh of the variety is dark blue and purple marbled. The waxy variety is particularly suitable for boiled potatoes, tastes like chestnuts and has a sweet note.
Blauer St. Galler: The potatoes are oval and have a dark skin with violet flesh, only after cooking do they appear bluish. Due to their creamy consistency, they are well suited for puree or potato soup.
Salad Blue: This variety has a blue-purple flesh surrounded by a thin white outer layer. It keeps its color even after cooking. The waxy variety with the slightly nutty note is suitable for potato salad, fried potatoes or potato casserole.

Tips for preparing blue potatoes

Basically, you can prepare blue potatoes in the same way as regular potatoes. According to a study, the content of the vegetable pigment anthocyanin changes depending on the temperature and pH value. In addition, the substance is water-soluble, which is why the color often fades somewhat after cooking.

The following tips will help you preserve the color:
Cook the blue potatoes with a little water. Cook them whole to keep the color in the potato.
Use non-water cooking methods. You can prepare blue potatoes in the oven or as roast potatoes without pre-cooking.
Steam cooking is also a suitable method for preparing the colorful tubers. With this gentle method, the dye and nutrients are well preserved.

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Cooking Tips

Cook Potatoes with Instructions and Cooking Test

This is how you simply cook potatoes. We give you tips for cooking potatoes and for cooking tests. Also for boiled potatoes with rules of thumb for the duration. Here’s our quick guide!

The cooking time of potatoes varies depending on the variety and size of the potatoes. For this reason, every time you cook, you have to carry out a cooking test to find out whether the potatoes are done or not. The cooking time also changes depending on the potato dish. Unfortunately, some people don’t know this and so the result is floury or too hard potatoes for many. We will help you and give you some rules of thumb so that the potatoes turn out well.

1) Boil potatoes

To boil potatoes you need boiling water and a saucepan for cooking. The ideal is to cover potatoes with cold water and gradually warm it up. The reason is that at around 70 degrees, the starch particles in the potatoes burst open. So if you immediately put them in hot water, the starch on the edge of the potato will gelatinize and the result will be potatoes that are cooked on the outside and hard on the inside. When the water starts to boil, you should season them with a pinch of salt. As soon as the potatoes are boiling, reduce the temperature until it is just simmering. Also, note our tips and home remedies for potatoes.

2) Potato cooking test

If you think the potatoes are good now, you should do the cooking test. To test the cooking, you take a fork or a needle and stick it in the potato floating in the water. It is best to use the largest potato for this. If the fork penetrates the potato without resistance, then it is done. However, if there is still greater resistance or piercing is difficult, the potatoes must continue to cook. Here you will find an overview of different types of cooking and cooking methods with water.

3) Potatoes and their duration

Depending on the size and saucepan, there are different cooking times for the potatoes. Waxy potatoes will take a few minutes longer. Mealy a few minutes less. Potatoes turn out very quickly in the microwave and can be ready in just 5 minutes. There are special containers or potato bags in which even boiled potatoes can be cooked in the microwave. Baked potatoes, on the other hand, take about 45 to 74 minutes at 200°C. The same time applies to potatoes on the grill. Here you will find more tips for grilling vegetables properly.

4) Rules of thumb when cooking potatoes

The smaller the potatoes are, the quicker they will be cooked and ready. Cutting the potatoes will reduce the cooking time. Small cubes don’t even take half the time. Always try to choose similarly-sized potatoes for a portion, because the more uniform the potato size, the better the cooking point of all potatoes will be reached. Salt in the water does not affect the cooking time. Peeled potatoes cook faster than unpeeled jacket potatoes. By the way, the average cooking time of potatoes is about 25 minutes. Did you like our tips? You might also be interested in our tips and instructions for cooking eggs.

5) Potato Varieties and Recipes

Potatoes have different properties. We will show you which dishes they are suitable for. The following applies here: The smaller and thinner the potato pieces are in a dish, the faster they are ready. Incidentally, a rösti in the pan only takes 15 minutes.

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Lifestyle

Planting potatoes: How it Works

With these simple instructions you will learn to plant and harvest your own potatoes – whether on the balcony or in the garden. So you can get a rich harvest in autumn with just a few potatoes in spring.

Plant potatoes yourself: the right location

When it comes to choosing the right location for your potato patch, there are only a few limits. However, you should keep these things in mind if you want to plant potatoes:
The potato plants need daylight, so they should be planted outside.
Enough space: you need a bed or a tall planter or a flower pot measuring approx. 30 cm x 30 cm.
The bottom should have holes to prevent waterlogging in the planter or pot.
Use high-quality, sustainably sourced, peat-free potting soil.
If you have neither a balcony nor a garden, you can also plant a green space in your neighborhood using urban gardening methods.

Plant the right type of potato

You also have many options when it comes to the choice of potatoes. Cultivation is easiest with special seed potatoes. You can order these from the garden trade and should choose according to these criteria:
early or late harvest
firm or mealy boiling
storage suitability
You can even choose the color of your potatoes:
purple potatoes
Red Potatoes
Blue Potatoes
You can also use potatoes from the supermarket. However, varieties from conventional cultivation in particular are often treated with germ inhibitors or are more susceptible to diseases because they are bred to grow up with chemical aids.

Planting Potatoes: Season, Soil and Harvest

Whether you just want to plant a flower pot or an entire bed – the following steps are important if you want to plant potatoes yourself:
Germination: Pre-germinating potatoes is important. From the beginning of March, leave them in the light until they start to germinate and become shriveled. You can then plant them in the ground about six weeks later. Make sure that the nights are already frost-free.
Planting: Loosen the potting soil and remove weeds and roots if necessary. Dig the sprouted potatoes about two inches deep—you’ll need to keep the soil moist from there.
Covering with soil: As soon as the first small plants of ten centimeters have formed, you should cover them with soil again and again (“cover”) with soil so that only the top part is exposed. The plant grows higher and higher and the growing potatoes have more space in the ground and can thrive better.
Harvest: Depending on the variety, the plants begin to wither after three months at the earliest. About two weeks after the plants have withered, the first potatoes can be harvested. You can simply search the earth below the plant remains with your hands or a digging fork.
Tips:
If the potatoes are to be stored for a longer period of time, it is better to leave them in the ground a little longer. This gives them a more robust shell that protects them better against rot.
To prevent disease, potatoes should only be planted in the same spot every four years.
Once you’ve got a taste for your own potatoes and you’ve internalized the basic techniques, you can experiment with different varieties and thus also contribute to the preservation of seed diversity.

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Seed Potatoes: Difference to Ware Potatoes, Varieties and More

Seed potatoes are also known as seed potatoes because they are used to sow new potato plants. Here we explain what distinguishes them from conventional ware potatoes and what is important when buying them.

Seed potatoes form the basis for potato cultivation: new potato tubers develop from their sprouts. They are therefore also called seed potatoes or seed potatoes. But doesn’t every potato sprout and can be used for sowing? In fact, it’s not that simple.

In this article you will find out where the differences between seed potatoes and ware potatoes are and what you should consider when choosing seed potatoes.

What is the difference between seed potatoes and ware potatoes?

At first glance, seed potatoes and ware potatoes look alike. But looks are deceptive – seed potatoes are grown and treated differently:
Since seed potatoes are not meant to be eaten, the size of the tubers is not that relevant. The plants are placed closer together. This creates more but smaller tubers.
So that the ability to germinate is preserved as well as possible, seed potatoes are stored at two to a maximum of six degrees Celsius. This is not necessary for table potatoes.
Conventional ware potatoes are often treated with sprout inhibitors such as chloropam. This allows them to be stored longer without expelling. Since seed potatoes should germinate as well as possible for cultivation, they are not treated with such agents. For this reason, they are in principle also suitable for consumption. But because of the higher price and the smaller tubers, this is rather unusual.
Before seed potatoes can be sold, they are tested for viruses and bacteria, as well as other diseases and pests. Some viruses and bacteria damage the roots during growth, while they are harmless to health due to the high temperatures when cooking. The focus of the test is primarily on pests such as potato nematodes.
Potatoes that are designated as seed potatoes are always of the same variety. This means that the variety you bought as a seed potato and planted in your garden will also grow back. In principle, you can buy seed potatoes in all varieties that are also available as ware potatoes.

Are seed potatoes necessary?

Are seed potatoes really necessary when potatoes sprout anyway? So that you can plant potatoes in your garden, it is usually sufficient to plant sprouted ware potatoes. On the other hand, if the harvested potatoes are intended for sale, you must use seed potatoes.

These are the disadvantages of using regular table potatoes as seed potatoes:
Potato plants from ware potatoes are often less productive.
If you keep taking a potato from the harvest to plant it next year, the plants usually become weaker and more susceptible to diseases.
You should pay attention to this if you want to use table potatoes as seed potatoes:
Be sure to only use untreated potatoes. Treated potatoes must be labeled. The packaging then says: “Treated after harvest.” Potatoes from organic farming must not be treated with germicides or chemical pesticides.
It is best to use a particularly strong potato with several eyes, i.e. starting points for new shoots.
Larger potatoes with enough eyes can also be divided before planting.

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