# Why do my potatoes keep sprouting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200 "2006-12-14T22:46:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/1 "2006-12-14T22:46:21Z")
It makes me want to expel fluids violently. Every bag of potatoes I’ve bought has started sprouting within a month of my buying it (except for one bag of monster potatoes). Potatoes are supposed to be the easiest health food to cook and store. Cook: put in the toaster for 90 minutes. Store: plop on the floor anywhere you like and keep the cats from clawing them. Even with the above conditions, potatoes at home last forever. Here, I did one better, I eliminated the “cat factor”, and I have them on a shelf in a dry, cool location covered by a towel. No natural light enters my basement, and even less artificial light gets near the potatoes. These potatoes (of dubious parentage) should not be sprouting. I put the diminutive sexual deviants in the fridge violently, and that should stop any further sprouting, but we never had to do that at home. What’s leading my spuds astray, and how do I stop my potatoes from sprouting? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/2 "2006-12-14T22:58:12Z")
I’m bookmarking this thread, 'cos I want to know, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/3 "2006-12-14T22:59:28Z")
Firstly, you must have very large slots in your toaster. Secondly, IME it’s perfectly normal for potatoes to be sprouting after a month of storage. Indeed, I think a week is about usual. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat them - unless they’ve gone green/black or squishy, just remove the sprouts and cook them as normal. But if this grosses you out, I can only suggest you buy smaller bags of potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/4 "2006-12-14T23:16:50Z")
I assume she means toaster _oven_. Do you really mean every bag of potatoes ever, or every bag recently? In my experience, fall and early winter potatoes stink, because (oddly enough) potatoes are harvested in the fall. I know, that makes no sense, but what it means is that the potatoes they sell in the fall are probably the dregs from LAST fall, and this season’s potatoes are being shipped to warehouses until spring, when the stores of last season’s potatoes are all gone. I’ve also stopped buying potatoes and apples at Aldi. They get the dregs of the dregs, it seems, and they never last half as long as produce from the “brand-name” market. It doesn’t save me money if the bag is half rotted before I get to use them. I don’t see anything you’re doing wrong. Cool and dark, that’s what they like. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/5 "2006-12-14T23:20:33Z")
I always thought that tatties sprouted _because_ of the dark, because they think they’re in the ground. That’s what you do to make them get legs if you want to plant them late. In my experience, keep the light on them, and the worst that will happen is they’ll go green. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/6 "2006-12-14T23:24:57Z")
I keep mine in the refrigerator. They never seem to sprout or go bad. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/7 "2006-12-14T23:26:02Z")
What **jjimm** said. Those are the perfect conditions for sprouting potatoes, before planting them in the garden. Potatoes aren’t the most attractive kitchen decoration, but maybe it’ll help if you keep them in a space where they’ll get air and light. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/8 "2006-12-14T23:27:15Z")
My experience storing potatoes varies widely. Sometimes they stay good for at least a month or more, sometimes they sprout within a week or so, and sometimes they skip the sprouting part and go right to rotting. The last bag I got is sitting outside because it went right to the rotting part and I found worms in some of the rotting potatoes. I figure the faster they sprout/go bad, the longer they were probably stored someplace before I bought them. ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/9 "2006-12-14T23:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I assume she means toaster _oven_. [/QUOTE] Grunt, spit, scratch-scratch-scratch, sniff. I’m a guy!, and the only reason I was using my very masculine toaster, was because my landlord got made at me for rooting around in the front yard and making fire pits. That and I accidentally carried off his daughter when I went raiding for wenches; it could happen to anybody. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/10 "2006-12-14T23:33:38Z")
To me, “a toaster” is only ever a slotted device that turns bread into toast. That’s the source of confusion, I suspect. Apart from your gender. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/11 "2006-12-14T23:41:25Z")
[QUOTE=Zany Zeolite Zipper] Grunt, spit, scratch-scratch-scratch, sniff. I’m a guy!, and the only reason I was using my very masculine toaster, was because my landlord got made at me for rooting around in the front yard and making fire pits. That and I accidentally carried off his daughter when I went raiding for wenches; it could happen to anybody. [/QUOTE] You know, for that post, someone should buy you your first year’s membership. I just wish it could be me. 😃 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/12 "2006-12-14T23:44:42Z")
[QUOTE=Zany Zeolite Zipper] Grunt, spit, scratch-scratch-scratch, sniff. I’m a guy!, and the only reason I was using my very masculine toaster, was because my landlord got made at me for rooting around in the front yard and making fire pits. That and I accidentally carried off his daughter when I went raiding for wenches; it could happen to anybody. [/QUOTE] My most humble apologies, kind sir! This humble maiden quakes at your thunderous approach, overcome by your manly scent and sprouty potatoes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/13 "2006-12-15T00:03:28Z")
In the spring time fair maiden, when the Chevrolet Blazer herds return [north, south, east, west], I will stop by Location:\_\_\_\_\_\_\_, and show you that I have mastered more than the art of sprouty potatoes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-my-potatoes-keep-sprouting/384200/14 "2006-12-15T00:03:53Z")
[Some tips on storing potatoes.](http://www.ehow.com/how_3480_store-potatoes.html)