General: Potato oxidization

Subject: Potato oxidization
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
From: erica at technodyke.com (Erica)
Date: 24 Dec 2003 11:59:56 -0800
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Hi,

Does anyone here know how long you can keep shredded potatoes in cold water before they start to oxidize? Thanks!

--Erica
From: Dimiri (Dimitri_c at prodigy.net)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 20:04:08 GMT
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Several hours if that are rinsed of the surface starch and then kept in lightly acidulated water.
From: Siobhan Perricone (morgannalefey at tds.net)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 16:56:00 -0500
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Dimiri wrote:
>Several hours if that are rinsed of the surface starch and then kept in
>lightly acidulated water.

By which Dimitri means to toss in a bit of lemon juice or some such. :)
From: jim.mckelvey at sympatico.ca (Biff)
Date: 24 Dec 2003 15:45:36 -0800
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Erica wrote:
> Does anyone here know how long you can keep shredded potatoes in cold
> water before they start to oxidize? Thanks!

About 20 minutes if the water is salted, then they turn grayish but are still good for latkes.
From: Wayne Boatwright (WayneBoatWright at SMN.worldnet.att.net)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 23:51:58 GMT
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Biff wrote:
> About 20 minutes if the water is salted, then they turn grayish but
> are still good for latkes.

If you add some fresh lemon juice, the keeping time is greatly extended.
From: June Oshiro (joshiro911 at hotmail.com)
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 22:21:06 -0500
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Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> If you add some fresh lemon juice, the keeping time is greatly extended.

...because polyphenol oxidase is inhibited at low pH.
From: Wayne Boatwright (WayneBoatWright at SMN.worldnet.att.net)
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2003 03:51:46 GMT
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June Oshiro wrote:
> ...because polyphenol oxidase is inhibited at low pH.

June, you know much more about the chemical action than I do. I just know it works. <G> My mom and grandmother always did it...potatoes, turnips, apples, peaches, etc. If I don't have a lemon on hand, I use Fruit-Fresh®, even on the vegetables.