I have spent a fair amount of time over the last week cleaning up and sorting potatoes (starting with a second sift of the Vales Sovereigns that we had initially identified as keepers).  Only a few of the sorted Vales Sovereigns were showing some signs of damage and as we are planning to only put unblemished potatoes away for storage I sifted those out before leaving all of the re-washed potatoes out for drying.  I bagged up the Vales Sovereign potatoes, with 4 stone being put away for keeping.  With the stone and a half of Rudolphs we probably already had enough potatoes to see us through to next spring.  However, there were also the Caras to be harvested.

The first impression of the Caras was of the size of the tubers, there were a lot of big ones and some huge ones – the biggest weighed in at 2lb by itself.  The second impression was the relatively high level of pest damage – certainly compared to the Vales Sovereigns, whether this is down to the variety, or because the last three weeks have been pretty soggy, so the slugs have been active I’m not sure.  I did a rough sort and put the potential keepers on one side to dry and put the quarter or so of tubers that were slightly damaged into a box for giving away at the roll-up.  The badly damaged ones I used for making chips immediately and the Caras are certainly good for this.  We have about 5 stone of Cara put away for keeping and a box in the kitchen for using, in addition we have given away a couple of stone of slightly damaged ones.

We have also started cutting pumpkins and winter squashes for storage.  We have been really impressed by the flexibility of winter squashes in the kitchen and have had them roasted, mashed, fried and stewed.  Their hard skins should ensure that they keep well, meaning fresh vegetables well into the winter.