Why do my spuds taste sweet?

The longer they have been in storage the more starch they contain I think. Someone correct me if I am wrong. Freshly dug are wonderful but if we leave the earlies on our allotment the later ones do not taste as heavenly.

Well that's the last time I buy spuds in the Co-op. Maybe it's the storage; maybe the type. I'll stick to the local greengrocer in future.

greyduster I'm not a chip person either but I occasionally make them by par boiling the potatoes, slicing them, and baking them coveted in oil and chilli powder.

I find Desiree have a sweetish flavour - I don't bake them for that reason, preferring to use them for mash, or sliced on top of cottage or fish pie because they don't break up. Maris Piper is my go-to potato for everything but mash. They are very good baked and roasted and I'm told they make good chips but I have no means of finding out ! A lot of the supermarket potatoes I've had this year have been very disappointing quality. I like to buy them from the local fruit and veg market when I can get there. They are better quality and you mostly know where they've come from - the supermarkets don't think it's important to tell you these things; they're just potatoes!

I once bought six unusual (well, less common) varieties of seed potato to grow on my allotment. I had them chitting in egg boxes that were carefully labelled but Minibags, who was a toddler at the time, found them and mixed them all up. Unlike her elder sister who once took a bite out of each one of a bag of raw potatoes, she did not sample them. Anyhow, when I came to plant them out I couldn't label them so we never knew which was which. They were all VG as it happens, mostly oven roasted.

Were not where!

What variety where they? All varieties of potatoes taste quite different.
Asda used to sell "Saxon" as a baking potato they are a very waxy potato but not at all suited to baking as the texture is all wrong.
Marabelle is an absolutely lovely jacket potato with a fabulous flavour.
As a salad potato IMO "Charlotte is the very best for flavour. However most varieties are seasonal.

It is well worth experimenting to find the ones you like best.

This might help.

www.allotment-garden.org/vegetable/potatoes/potato-varieties-for-flavour-boiled-baked-roasted-mashed/

hilda yes, the baking ones. And they seem to be very watery too.

We quite like sweet potatoes. I buy pink ones (Rose de France) and roast them , cut up fairly small, in olive oil and a little salt.
I know that sounds unhealthy, but a little of what you fancy .....
We grew some once but they got invaded by wireworms.

I have just googled it for interest and keeping them chilled seems to be one of the culprits.

Are these the baking potatoes? If so, I'm in agreement, they are horrible. My DH works in the Co-op and has brought them home in the past. I have asked him not to buy them again.

Maris Pipers and Red King Edwards are usually a safe bet.

There are a lot of potato varieties and all (the good ones) taste slightly different. Why not investigate different varieties and stick with the ones you like?

They're in the cupboard, in the dark. I never keep them in the fridge. Not sure how the Coop store them. They're in packets of 4. Maybe something to do with the storage, then.

Have you been keeping them in the fridge ? I have been told this makes them sweet or maybe the supermarket have had them in cold store for too long.