Cooking Quality of Potatoes 



by Paul T. Blood and Ford S. Prince 



DURING the course of the rotation studies and fertilizer trials with 

 potatoes on Jackson and Lane farms, it seemed desirable to deter- 

 mine the quality of the potatoes produced under various fertilizer 

 treatments. Early tests made in the years of these experiments consisted 

 in cooking the potatoes and then having different individuals rate them by 

 taste. This method proved unsatisfactory because of variable individual 

 preferences, and also because of the impossibility of tasting a large num- 

 ber of potatoes within a given sample so as to cover the variations within 

 that particular lot. 



Accordingly, a rapid method of estimation of potato quality was de- 

 vised so large numbers could be tested. Tliis method consisted in de- 

 termining the specific gravity of individual tubers grown under different 

 conditions. Facilities for making these rapid tests were first set up in 

 Xew Hampshire by Paul T. Blood, assistant agronomist, and the results 

 of the first tests were reported by Haddock (14). February 10, 1938. on 

 potatoes grown in 1937. Later reports by Haddock and Blood (4) re- 

 viewed some of the literature on potato mealiness and cooking quality, and 

 described in detail the method employed. "Eleven salt solutions of vary- 

 ing specific gravities ranging from 1.055, 1.060 ... to 1.105 were prepared. 

 A 'definite' number of tubers were selected from the potato sample to be 



Method used in specific gravity test for potato quality. 



