Thursday 24 April 2014

If you peel potatoes, you lose a quarter by weight.

I had to boil potatoes today and the kids said that they'd prefer them peeled first.

So I weighed out the regulation 8 oz per person (275 grams in new money) and peeled them as carefully and gently as possible using an authentic German swivel blade peeler.

Just for the fun of it I weighed the peeled potatoes. To my surprise/horror, I'd lost a quarter by weight.

On the off chance that I'd messed up the original weighing, I then weighed the peelings as well and it all added up nicely.

So maybe they were right, back in the day:

Those who have the will to win,
Cook potatoes in their skin,
Knowing that the sight of peelings,
Deeply hurts Lord Woolton's feelings.

7 comments:

Bayard said...

The skin is the tasty bit. I can never be bothered to peel potatoes anyway, not even for mash.

Graeme said...

so potatoes are 7/8 water? interesting

benj said...

@MW

You need to chose the most spherical potatoes if you want to reduce the waste peelage.

Under no circumstances buy potatoes the shape of a pyramid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-area-to-volume_ratio

Mark Wadsworth said...

B, it was my kids' decision.

G, how do you work that out?

BJ, true.

Mark In Mayenne said...

I knew that a large part of the areas of (say) maps is around the edges, so usually the place you are looking for is near the edge. I never extended that to 3D but I guess it makes sense.

Lola said...

More importantly thanks for the link to the peeler. I love 'tools' and I have made the purchase...

Oh, and in re baked potatoes - the skin is the best bit. Boiled I am ambivalent.

L fairfax said...

@" Bayard said...

The skin is the tasty bit. I can never be bothered to peel potatoes anyway, not even for mash."
I agree 100%. I used to make chips with the skin on.
Also healthier.