Curing (brief storage) first allows time for some of the starch to convert to sugars so the flavor and texture is affected. Some consider it an improvement, some don't. It is optional.

Dave

thank you, Dave.

I went ahead and canned a batch. I'll compare them to the ones I'll do later, after the potatoes have cured for a bit.

How long would you cure fresh potatoes for before canning? Jill have you completed your comparison yet? I am thinking about canning potatoes. We grow reds and the yellows. We have 24 plants this year and I am told they don't keep well. I would rather can them then loss them. Thanks for the help.
~Tina

The only jar I've opened of the ones that I canned fresh from the garden were used to make potato soup, so not much of a comparison to make. Not much can go wrong with texture when you're mashing them all up after opening to make the soup! :-) In years past, I can say that the red potatoes seemed to keep longer in storage plus have a better texture after canning that the white ones we grew. Whether any of that had anything to do with how we cured them or not, I don't know as I didn't know enough about potato harvesting then to notice that aspect of it. I do not know which varieties of the potatoes we grew. My husband selects the variety based on what is best for our area and what is available here, in hot and humid Southeast Texas.

How long would you cure fresh potatoes for before canning?

That would depend on how you do the curing, how mature the potatoes were when harvested, the size of the potatoes, and to a degree which variety.

In other words there is no pat answer that applies to all. Much of it depends on first understanding how to grow potatoes and that is the problem most have IMO. They have little or no understanding of how to grow potatoes, the great differences in the varieties, much less when and how to harvest them so most are harvest far too early. When using most store bought potatoes all the proper harvesting and curing has already been done for you.

The instructions call for using only "mature" potatoes for canning. That is usually defined as normal/full sized so that is where variety comes in as the normal size varies from variety to variety.

Red Pontiac in normally smaller than Russets, Yukon Golds are normally the size of Reds but the various fingerling varieties are normally smaller than all others, etc.

So you wouldn't use small little new russets when the normal russet is quite large.

Then they need to be cured for approximately 4-6 weeks in cool (not cold) dry conditions.

Dave

Thank you both for the help.
~Tina~