Red Thumbs and Pinky Toes

Until several years ago, I knew no one who grew more than a couple potato varieties.  When I was a child, my family grew potatoes.  Period.  Our potatoes were russets and after harvesting, we stored them in a dark cellar and used them until they were too shriveled to peel, but usually, by then, it would be time to harvest the next year's crop.  We also grew a small red-skinned potato variety our family called "new potatoes," but when I discovered the extensive varieties and flavor differences that exist in these root vegetables, potatoes became one of the largest crops at Heart & Sole and at harvest time, I love to see the colorful wake created by the plow.

Potato blossoms are pretty enough for the flower garden

On July 17th, we plowed our first row and gathered over one hundred and thirty pounds of Red Thumb fingerlings and Charlotte, a new variety we tried this year.  After several rainy days, the ground finally dried enough this week to plow a row of Purple Vikings and the yield is impressive.  Last year's cool wet summer severely limited the potato crop, but after two rows, our harvest is well over two hundred pounds, the amount of seed potatoes we planted.  With seven more rows to harvest, 2014 could be our Year of the Potato.
Sorting through baskets of fresh potatoes, I noticed there are many that are too small for long-term storage.  These tiny potatoes are delicious, but will become soft in a few days.  As I placed the smallest tubers in a bucket, I wondered what to do with them.  Potatoes, especially fingerlings, are great for canning and we enjoy those in late winter when our stored potatoes begin to sprout and deteriorate, but these baby potatoes are probably not the best candidates for pressure canning.

Tiny potatoes: pickling prospects?

Why not pickle them?  I thought.  Other root vegetables, like beets, carrots and onions pickle well.  Why not potatoes? 

Online research revealed that, indeed, potatoes may be pickled, but there were few instructions for doing so.  I learned pickled potatoes are traditional Mexican bar food and are served in a jar, along with toothpicks for spearing them.  The few photographs I found depicted potatoes larger than mine and some were sliced or peeled.  I decided to experiment. . .

After scrubbing the potatoes with a vegetable brush, I placed them in a large pot of boiling water for three minutes, then plunged them into ice water, to stop the cooking process.  Adding fresh herbs, hot and sweet peppers and a clove of garlic, I packed the potatoes in glass jars and covered them with a pickling solution.  (For the recipe, see June 17th blog, Magic Beans.)  I stored the jars in the refrigerator and Richard enjoys tasting a potato every day, to test the pickling degree.  Perhaps because the skin is a bit thicker, the Red Thumb variety takes more time to absorb pickling flavor, but it inspired me to dub my efforts as "Pinky Toes."

Pinky Toes: Pickled tiny potatoes, herbs, garlic & peppers

Hopefully, there will be more "too small" potatoes in our future harvests and I plan to try processing these, for longer shelf life.  If any readers have pickled potatoes, please share your comments or suggestions.