So, with this season's garden planting (finally) on the horizon, I'm wondering what to do with several bushels of raw potatoes stored in my cold room. They're still edible but not very nice, since our fall was very dry. Seems a shame to throw them onto the compost.

I could cook them and feed to my dogs, who love them (never feed raw, as a lethal wall of green fog will ensue).

Other options? Is it possible to mince and dehydrate them for non-refrigerated storage?

Any ideas?

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Interesting factoid: raw potatoes have a high vitamin C content.

I came across this again in a book about the Klondike gold rush, where miners would live off bannock and beans through long months of winter, and seek out raw potatoes to ward off scurvy.

Apparently there's validity in this: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/3127

I don't know what to do with them except use them to plant this year's crop. IIRC granddad cut left-over potatoes for seed. If they've started to sprout, cut them so there is at least one sprout in each piece. If they haven't sprouted, make sure there is at least one eye on each piece. Bury a piece wherever you want a plant this year.

^ That.

Hill Billy Potato Vodka. If you have any Rhubarb then Hill Billy Rhubarb flavoured Potato Vodka!

Thanks for the ideas.

Reusing a portion for seed is a given. I have several heritage varieties and seed has never been commercially available (the skins are too delicate for commercial potato production ... or maybe they have something against flavour).

Don't need 500 plants though. (And somebody would have to hill them!)

The vodka idea is interesting. I thought of that before and talked to a skilled winemaker. There would still be a lot of waste, since yeast doesn't eat complex carbohydrates. (It's also a lot more fuss than juicing my surplus apples and raspberries for wine.) Unlicensed distilling is illegal here, although they won't go looking for you unless you start selling it.

You can get enzymes to assist with fermenting the carbohydrates.

Also is is usual to allow potatoes to start to sprout before fermenting them (for wine). When they sprout, the natural enzymes have already started to convert the stored carbohydrates to sugars which the plant needs to grow.

I'd do a bit more research on potato wine and consider making up a batch - it is an interesting drink to say the least ! Aim for a semi-sweet style IMO.

If you have more potatoes than you can eat or need for seed, then I would use them for dog food.

If you have large qaunities, would a local pig farmer want them ? or it might even be worth buying a couple of pigs to fatten and re sell or eat.

It is a shame to waste them, and producing wine though possible is a lot of trouble compared to fermenting fruit juice.

I appreciate the replies.

The enzyme angle is interesting. I had heard of such a thing but didn't know how it would apply.

As noted, though, it's pretty easy to make your own hootch if you have a productive yard and are so inclined.

In the big picture, the "waste" is not waste at all (except for my own labour I guess); it only feeds the coming generations of garden plants. If the soil is a little deeper and richer for my efforts, well, that's as fine a legacy as any.

Feeding a pig is a good idea. However, the feeding of large hounds is money out of pocket already. Surprise, surprise, dogs are more omnivorous than people recognize, and it's good for them.