Where have all the large size baking potatoes gone?

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jillcrosslandpiano@reddit

It's the weather over the previous growing season, that's all. Potatoes need a fair amount of moisture and for the temperatires to be as middling as possible.

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OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

Looks like I'll have to stick to two middling sized spuds then.

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yes, potatoes need sun which we didn't have much of last year. then on top of which we are now in the wrong season for baking potatos. they are an autumn crop as they grow over the full summer, so there wont be any possibility of more untill about September.

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Theres3ofMe@reddit

What.dpes last year have to do with it though? In my head, you plant veg and they're grown in a couple of months..... 🤣

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pryonic1705@reddit

You know certain things only grow at certain times of year in certain places right? Not that long ago you'd only get seasonal veg in the shops Now due to massive global supply chains you can get things all year round but look at where they are grown. Strawberries in winter won't come from the UK... Also interesting fact - the reason the summer school holidays are so long is because traditionally that was harvest time and the kids needed to help harvest the crops

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palpatineforever@reddit

the potatos you are eating this year were grown last year and stored. most potatos in the UK are grown in the UK. a baking potato takes 4-5 months to grow and they only grow in the summer, so they would have been planted in spring grow over the summer then harvested in the autumn. a cold wet summer = smaller potatos.

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Theres3ofMe@reddit

Thank you! Wow didn't realise they're from year before then stored 👀

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palpatineforever@reddit

yes, same with onions and other things. New potatos are different they will be planted in march and are coming out nowish. You can get new potatoes in other seasons bot they are often shipped in.

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Scasne@reddit

All correct, my spuds are in the ground atm, haven't got any earlies (small new potatoes) just second earlies and some main crop, mainly Maris piper (ok about 80kg planted, maybe an overreaction but with everything going on globally I wanted some self sufficiency, not looking forward to harvesting that many spuds though) as lil boy has been a bit of a pain with eating jacket potatoes at his mum's despite eating them at school so gunna try the "Big Daddy Potatoes" trick.

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daern2@reddit

> New potatos are different A long point of contention with Mrs Daern is this. I refuse to call them "new potatoes" when served. They are "boiled potatoes" (as this is how they are inevitably prepared) and are right at the bottom of the potato pyramid. Calling them something fancy does not change the fact that boiled potatoes suck :/ Chips --> Roasts --> Mash --> Jackets --> (everything else) --> boiled potatoes

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palpatineforever@reddit

boiled is a form of preperation not what they are. new potatos boiled taste different to old potatos boiled. Whether you like them or not is a different thing. New and old potatos are different things. They have a different sugar to startch ratios, the skins are different and they taste different new potatos make shit mash, and terrible roasts are they dont have enough sugar for roasting well and have the wrong water content for mash.

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Comfortable-mouse05@reddit

Like new coke

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jillcrosslandpiano@reddit

I feel your pain. I hate having to have smaller spuds for baked potatoes.

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BibbleBeans@reddit

The pro of a smaller spud is the option to then have two whole potatoes and to really mix up how each is prepared

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Theres3ofMe@reddit

Someone needs to explain to me when veg are planted and how long the most popular ones take to grow? Because people are talking about it being a poor weather season last year (explains why many veg are offensively small in supermarkets lately) - but in my head im like 'ehat. It takes a year to grow veg?!?' 🤣🤣

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Mabenue@reddit

It doesn’t take a year to grow, however the growing season runs between March and October, so if you want a potato this time of year chances are they’ve been stored since October last year.

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Lowest_Denominator@reddit

Lidl.

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OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

Sadly not at mine.

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adamosity1@reddit

It’s the other extreme in the us—most are gigantic and it’s hard to find regular sized ones…

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Ok-Kitchen2768@reddit

Maybe we have different definitions of large size but I got 400g one in Aldi Couldn't eat it myself I stick to 200g diet things

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bahumat42@reddit

I'm sorry I have a couple in the cupboard, wanted jacket potatoes this week.

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raccoonsaff@reddit

Go for the loose ones if you want large size, or try a local farm type place maybe??

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Sea-Still5427@reddit

Got to buy them loose if you want a main meal size. My local market's great for that, but you sometimes get a few decent size loose ones in Aldi and Tesco.

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AlexMC69@reddit

Same question re green peppers!

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Pitiful_Oven_3425@reddit

Also, didn't jacket potato skins used to be thicker? Back in the day like

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tmr89@reddit

Yup

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2Spot68@reddit

Local greengrocer.

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broadarrow39@reddit

Got 2 in Sainsbury's yesterday. Loose ones, both massive. Microwaved it for 5 mins and gave it 30 mins in the air fryer at 190c and the bloody thing was still raw in the middle.

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goodmythicalmickey@reddit

We've been splashing out on loose potatoes because the packets of baking potatoes are tiny now

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bizstring@reddit

Yeah it’s all about the loose boys

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OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

Even rummaging in the loose potato box isn't regularly yielding any good ones.

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bizstring@reddit

On the plus side you’ve stumbled on a great euphemism for fingering

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CiderChugger@reddit

Hipster jacket potato wagons stole them

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Brilliant-Figure-149@reddit

Costco sell huge ones.

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Where have all the large size baking potatoes gone?

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35 Comments

jillcrosslandpiano@reddit

OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

palpatineforever@reddit

Theres3ofMe@reddit

pryonic1705@reddit

palpatineforever@reddit

Theres3ofMe@reddit

palpatineforever@reddit

Scasne@reddit

daern2@reddit

palpatineforever@reddit

Comfortable-mouse05@reddit

jillcrosslandpiano@reddit

BibbleBeans@reddit

Theres3ofMe@reddit

Mabenue@reddit

Lowest_Denominator@reddit

OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

adamosity1@reddit

Ok-Kitchen2768@reddit

bahumat42@reddit

raccoonsaff@reddit

Sea-Still5427@reddit

AlexMC69@reddit

Pitiful_Oven_3425@reddit

tmr89@reddit

2Spot68@reddit

broadarrow39@reddit

goodmythicalmickey@reddit

bizstring@reddit

OccidentalTouriste@reddit (OP)

bizstring@reddit

CiderChugger@reddit

Brilliant-Figure-149@reddit

AutoModerator@reddit