Archive for November, 2009


Q & A: Carton Prices for Fresh Idaho® Potatoes

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Question: With all the doom and gloom about the economy, I noticed that carton prices on fresh Idaho® Potatoes are down substantially from last year.  What caused this?  When prices were high I dropped the size of my potatoes to keep menu pricing the same for my customers. Can I go back up this season?

potato-blogAnswer: No one can predict what happens with the supply and demand pricing model for potatoes, but I’ll tell you what I know about this year’s crop and let you decide what to do with your menu.  First off, in Idaho last year we had a period of time towards the end of the season when supplies were running low and most other states were out or finishing up marketing their crops.  While Idaho tries to have a year round supply for operators, such as yourself, it looked touch and go.  As a result, carton prices spiked.  This year, the prices are currently (always subject to change) about 1/3 to 1/2 the peak prices last year, so a terrific bargain.  As a former restaurant owner, I don’t think you could find a better value right now than to add potatoes to your menu or up size the ones you already have.  The food cost is terrific.  So, when your guests are looking for economical choices on the menu, why not feature a larger size and take advantage of the fact that potatoes are popular, are a hearty and filling menu item, and are very reasonable in food cost right now.  If you used to serve a 70 count, and over the years dropped back to an 80 or 90 count*, such as several budget steak chains and buffet concepts did, now is the time to surprise guests with a limited time offer “Steak House Baked Idaho® Potato with all the toppings” or even to add a baked potato as a side dish without an up charge (look at your food costs versus other sides and it can be done and still fall into the food cost guidelines).

*For an explanation on carton count sizes check out this link:
http://foodservice.idahopotato.com/size_guide

Posted in Consumer, Foodservice, Q & A

Q & A: Baked Potato Soup

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Question: Who invented baked potato soup?

Answer: You might just be able to trace this back to the Irish, or to the French, when lines of people gathered for food handouts and mixtures of cheap ingredients became a soup.  Modern variations of the baked potato soup emerged at the chains Steak & Ale and Bennigan’s and can easily be traced back to the question “what are we going to do with these left over baked potatoes?”  Well, some became potato skins, with the insides scooped out to become mashed potatoes. Some leftover bakers were re-purposed into twice baked potatoes, but some also became soup.  Speaking of delicious and hearty soups…does anyone out there remember the steak chain Victoria’s Station headquartered in the San Francisco bay area?  They had a wonderful steak soup comprised of left over chunks of prime rib.  Note: Victoria Station grew to 100 locations before closing in 1986.

Moving on to baked potato soup.  What makes a great one?  Usually those that incorporate some of the toppings you find on a loaded baked potato such as shredded cheddar cheese, sliced green or spring onions, real bacon bits or chunks, and a dollop of fresh sour cream.

If you want to do a taste test of chain restaurant baked potato soup recipes before developing your own, start with the family dining chain Shari’s:  www.sharis.com.  This is a signature recipe, and in Idaho Falls is only $1.99 with the order of any entrée.

Posted in Consumer, Q & A, Recipes

Q & A: “Anti-Spudding” Agent and Organic Potatoes

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Question: Are Idaho potatoes that I purchase in the grocery store treated with an anti-spudding agent?  A recent note in Prevention Magazine suggests that consumers pick only organic potatoes for their consumption.  Please advise.

Answer: First, you must know that Idaho potatoes are harvested once during the year.  Some go right into circulation and are sorted and sold to foodservice or grocery stores, but most go into storage.  After approximately 120 days, even under ideal temperature and humidity storage, the potatoes will start to sprout.  The same thing happens if placed in a cool dark area in your house and forgotten about.  Sprouts, when small, can be knocked off; however, we don’t recommend eating sprouts as they taste bitter.  Trim off the sprouts and they will be fine to eat.

The “anti-spudding” agent that you refer to is actually a group of products such as “Sprout-Nip” which is added into a liquid solution that is misted by a series of fans into large metal tubes along the base of a pile of potatoes, while in very large storage facilities, sometimes a football field long.  As the fog rises it creates an atmosphere that inhibits the growth of sprouts.  Idaho farmers don’t use this automatically; they wait until there is evidence of the starting of sprouting.  Years ago an incorrect report surfaced where scientists actually dipped samples of potatoes in the water and anti sprouting solution and reported evidence of a residual.  Duh! It is not applied directly to the potatoes, but instead converted to a mist or fog into the atmosphere, so the concentrations in that test were completely false.

As far as Prevention Magazine suggesting that you buy only organic, you’ll notice that this was a single sentence by the writer of the column, with no space dedicated to why organic is better than traditional methods OR vice versa.  I really have a hang up with grand statements like this without any back-up.  By the way, we have growers that use organic methods, some certified. We also have the majority of our acreage, 319,000 in 2009, in traditional farming which includes rotation of crops, sustainable methods, etc.  It is hard, very hard, to imagine the demand for potatoes nationally being met by organic methods alone.  Think about the example when your own garden or flowers or grass gets attacked by pests or refuses to grow to the ideal size plants, to bloom, to have green leaves, etc.  When widespread it can cause havoc.  There is plenty of scientific evidence to support the growth of the organic farming methods, and plenty for traditional farming.  As far as which is less harmful to eat (by the way, our food supply system in the USA is amazingly safe when the volume of food products is thrown into the equation), I think the correct answer is that we all need to eat more fruits and vegetables.  They are a lot better for us (and one Idaho potato typically costs about a quarter in the store) than many other food choices.

Posted in Consumer, Q & A

Q&A: Mashed Potatoes for a Crowd

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Q.   How many fresh Idaho® potatoes do I need to prepare mashed potatoes for a crowd?

A. Here is a simple guideline:  Peeling the skin on a potato will drop your yields by 20% over leaving the peels on. To come up with enough servings for 25 people you’ll need to start with 6 pounds of fresh unpeeled or 5 pounds of peeled Idaho® potatoes.  If you bought a five pound bag of potatoes and peeled them, you would need to adjust the ratios of the milk and margarine or butter down slightly and would end up with about 22.5 servings.

Here is a chart to help you with the exact amount of ingredients you will need for the perfect mashed potatoes:

crowd

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Posted in Consumer, Foodservice, Q & A

Q&A: Making Money on the Side with Idaho® Potatoes

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Q. I have heard that Steak chains love potatoes as it is a way to offset the cost of the protein.  Is that why some restaurant have a whole section of potato side dishes?

A. You are correct in that assumption, potatoes are among the most profitable menu items you can have on the menu during this economic recession.  In fact, many operators have found they can add even more potatoes to the menu because of their popularity with guests.

Side dishes are becoming more popular than ever.  Whether served a la carte or with an entrée, the major role of a side dish is to help increase check averages and profit margins.  And what says “side dish” better than Idaho® potatoes?  There are several ways to serve up side dishes.  One is to create a special side dish for each entrée, pairing known favorites with entrees with the highest profit margins.  Watch your grilled salmon with wasabi mashed Idaho® potatoes at $15.95 outsell your chicken breast on rice pilaf at $11.95.  Another option is offering customers a choice of sides with each entrée.  Customers like the flexibility and perceive the meal as having a greater value, allowing you to charge more for it and reducing your food costs at the same time.  Finally, having an a la carte side dish menu is a great way to increase check averages.  Offer a side dish sampler platter, with three or four Idaho® potato dishes for the entire table to share.  You can also offer this as an entrée for those customers who know the side dish is the best part of the meal.

Here are some tips on how to “zip-up” your potatoes and profit margins:

French Fries:

  • Serve fries with dips or toppings, such as salsa, blue cheese, ranch-style dip, pesto mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, guacamole or flavored ketchups, such as blueberry or jalapeno.
  • Create signature fries by sprinkling with chopped fresh herbs, cayenne pepper, paprika, curry powder, Cajun spices, or garlic salt.

Mashed Potatoes:

  • Blend mashed Idaho® potatoes with finely chopped nicoise olives, olive oil, milk, salt and pepper.
  • Add sautéed onion, chopped basil, minced garlic, and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to mashed potatoes.

Baked Potatoes:

  • Top baked Idaho® potatoes with any combination of: mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, green peppers, ricotta, blue or cheddar cheese, chili, pizza sauce, salsa, and guacamole.
  • Make twice-baked Idaho® potatoes by scooping out potato pulp and mixing with your favorite ingredients.

Scalloped/Au Gratin

  • Layer scalloped potatoes with turnip slices and Spanish onion slices.  Use half milk and half cream mixture.
  • Add Dijon mustard to white sauce and layer Idaho® potatoes with shredded cheeses and diced ham.

More and more foodservice operators in every segment are turning to side dishes as a great way to build personality and boost check averages.  Side dishes give customers the opportunity to custom-tailor their meal, thus enhancing the dining-out experience.  In fast food operations, they are an easy way to broaden a limited menu.  And, since tastes in vegetables tend to be fussier than tastes in main dishes, especially in family restaurants, offering a choice can help increase your menu’s appeal.  Not surprisingly, potatoes are the best selling side dish in foodservice – and the most profitable.  Universally popular, potatoes complement any main course item and are a perfect base for a wide array of flavors and textures.

Posted in Foodservice

Q&A: Inexpensive Lunch Entrees using Idaho® Potatoes

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

platedQ. Any suggestions on an inexpensive lunch entrée using Idaho Potatoes?

A. Here is one quick idea that is easy to implement and barely costs anything in extra food prep. Offer your guests a choice of a twice stuffed Idaho Baked Potato (you can even re-purpose the previous meal periods baked potatoes) with either a house salad or soup. Twice stuffed potatoes are easy to make: hollow out a potato, mix the ingredients with sour cream and chives (maybe even shredded cheese), and re-fill. Then bake in a 350° F oven for 10-15 minutes.

Posted in Foodservice, Q & A

Q&A: Potato Salad Safety

Monday, November 16th, 2009

Q. Could you tell me how long it is safe to keep potato salad out of the refrigerator and on a picnic table?  I have been told it is not the mayo or eggs that go bad but something to do with the starch in the potato…is that correct?

A. Once a potato is cooked it should be kept in the safe zone for temperatures, remember hot food hot and cold food cold.  That’s a tip I learned from my boss on day-one, when I started in the foodservice business, it was right up there with “get the money in the bank” as important things to do when running a restaurant.  According to the 2005 FDA Food Code, the danger zone is defined as 41°F – 135°F (5°C – 57°C). Potentially hazardous food should not be stored at temperatures in this range in order to prevent food borne illness, and food that remains in this zone for more than four hours must be discarded.

Ask yourself, how long would I keep raw eggs or mayonnaise out at room temperature or on a picnic table in 100 degree summertime weather?  Your friend is incorrect.  The potatoes have a fairly neutral PH (acid versus alkaline) so they allow the bad stuff to grow when unrefrigerated. My personal guideline is 1/2 hour, but I usually put potato salad out in a bowl lined with a larger bowl that has ice in it.  For transporting a potato salad to an event I have found that the blue ice containers (freezer packs) work well.  I put it right in the middle of the deepest part of the salad to make sure it stays chilled.  Chill a cooler and then put the salad container in that.  You can also break the quantity of potato salad up into a couple of bowls (what is washing an extra bowl versus someone getting sick?).

With all this negative talk, here are some positive ideas for your next potato salad:
•    Almond Caper Idaho Potato Salad -  This recipe uses olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar as the dressing.
•    Baked Potato Salad – This uses traditional mayo, but is a baked potato salad.  Note it specifies chilling for a minimum of two hours before serving.
•    Idaho Potato and Edamame Salad -  An unusual mayo and Idaho potato salad, it also has soy and wasabi and Edamame.

We have a lot more potato salad recipes on our website at www.idahopotato.com — take a look!

Posted in Food Safety, Foodservice

Q&A: Railroads and the Idaho Potato

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Q. How did the Idaho Potato become available outside of Idaho and nearby states?  It seems like I have always been able to find it wherever I travel.

A. The reputation of Idaho potatoes and its term “famous potatoes” was due to a number of factors, including marketing, advertising, and publicity that even preceded the formation of the Idaho Potato Commission in 1937, as one of the very first association, boards, or commissions.

How did the distribution of Idaho potatoes become so wide spread?  Part of the story can be found on our website in the book by Jim Davis titled “The Aristocrat in Burlap.”

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates were first made for the state of Idaho in 1882, and that year they recorded that 2,000 acres were harvested at the average price of $1.67.  The total value of the potato market in Idaho that first year was $250,000.

In 1885, after the Oregon Short Line Railroad was completed across Southern Idaho, the Boise newspaper was encouraging Idahoans to plant potatoes by calling the attention of farmers to the “possible advantages of raising potatoes for the Eastern market.”  The railroad was very instrumental in expanding the growth of Idaho potatoes across the country.  Our largest markets to this day include New York and Illinois, both major destinations for Idaho potatoes. In addition, railroad spurs or forks in the road became natural drop off points for Idaho potatoes.

In 1890, Idaho was admitted to the Union as the 43rd state.  And, by fall of 1890, Idaho® potatoes were becoming well known in produce circles.  Frank Drake of Hailey was awarded $125 as a prize for the third-heaviest yield of one acre of potatoes in the United States!  Drake was a prominent rancher living just out of Hailey, and he also developed a seed potato that was claimed to be the “most prolific known.” Drake decided to name it “The Idaho” but the Wood River Times of October 17, 1890 decided it would always be called “Drake’s Idaho.”

Then came news that Thomas Wend of Shoup had received a $100 award offered by a Philadelphia seed dealer for the heaviest potatoes raised from seed purchased from him in 1890.  The six potatoes weighed 17 pounds. In another blog I’ll reveal the phenomenon known as the giant Idaho baked potatoes, now found on steak house menus across the country.

By the way, Idaho® potato is not a variety.  We grow several varieties of russets as well as red, yellow, and fingerlings.  It designates where the potatoes were grown…in Idaho.  Certification marks ensure that consumers are purchasing potatoes that have been grown in the state of Idaho, something that we protect very diligently.

Posted in History, Q & A

Q&A: Re-conditioning Idaho® Potatoes

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Q. Someone told me that my potatoes have too much sugar in them and that is why they fry up dark.  They said I need to “re-condition” the potatoes.  Can you tell me what exactly this means and how long it takes?

A. All potatoes have starch and water, sometimes the starch is referred to as solids.  The starch in a potato will convert over to sugar if it is stored too cold.  A high solids potato, such as the Idaho Russet Burbank, will typically fry up golden brown.  However, even when you start with the best ingredients you need to be aware of the challenges of trying to do fries from scratch.  Potato processors even struggle for a consistent fry, and they have the ability to vary time and temperatures, as well as utilize processing efficiency for the final product.  In most areas, potatoes are harvested only once a year. Conditioning or re-conditioning potatoes refers to the procedure by which sugar in the potato can be lowered to a more acceptable level for making French Fries.  The normal recommended storage of fresh potatoes is at a temperature of 45-48°F.  Below 40°F, the starch converts to sugar.  When you elevate the temperature to 60-70°F the sugars begin to convert back to starch.

At the distributor or produce house, if you have a customer (or several) that does fresh fries on location, store these potatoes in a warmer climate.  At the very least, move the potatoes designated for frying down from the upper levels of the refrigerated room where the air is normally colder, place the potatoes at the entrance of the room where the clear plastic curtains hold in most of the cold but the constant entry and exit by people will make that part of the room a little warmer.  Place the potatoes out of the cold warehouse onto a covered dock (unless it is also chilled) to warm up for several days before shipping to your customers.

At the unit level, set aside an area for the potatoes and use the “First In First Out” method so that you use up the warmest potatoes first and the newly received potatoes might have 5-7 days before being cut into fries.  It will take a minimum of 5 days to make some headway towards reducing the sugars.
Here is one suggestion on how to determine if you have a problem: Use diabetic test strips, sometimes sold for urinalysis.  The best ones have a color code on the jar, with aqua showing less or no sugar and dark brown showing strong evidence of sugar.  Cut a raw potato, place the strip on it for a few seconds, and wait for it to turn color from the plain white to the aqua or dark brown. If it shows sugar, then plan on re-conditioning the potato (sometimes referred to as de-sugaring or de-sweetening).  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.  Blanching…that’s still another chapter in the saga of successfully making your fresh Idaho potatoes into beautiful French fries.

Posted in Cooking Potatoes, Foodservice, Q & A

Q&A: Tips on Holding Mashed Potatoes

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Q. How long can I hold mashed potatoes on my cafeteria line?

A.   Mashed potatoes are great for foodservice operations because they hold so well, but many people have questions on how long they should actually hold them.  Fresh mashed Idaho® potatoes should be held for no more than 60 minutes on a steam table (moist heat #7) or warming cabinet (175 °F – 200°F).  Always preheat the steam table or warming cabinet.  Keep potatoes covered with a layer of plastic wrap or a lid.  If dry heat is used, set a pan in water bath.

Processed dry or dehydrated mashed potatoes can be held in a steam table (moist heat #5). For ideal taste and texture, granules should be held no more than 30 minutes; flakes not more than an hour and fifteen minutes.  Frozen product can be held longer, up to 4 hours, on a steam table.  Ask the manufacturer for specific product holding times

Sometimes fresh mashed potatoes will have a soupy texture if they are overcooked or over-mixed.  I recommend baking or boiling 5 lbs of peeled (or 6 lbs of unpeeled) Idaho® potatoes until fork tender, then whipping with 3/4 cups hot milk for 1-2 minutes on a low setting.  Then add 1/4 pound butter or margarine and whip on high for 3-4 minutes.  This will yield 25 half cup servings.

Posted in Cooking Potatoes, Q & A

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