[Gardener Girl]

My son & I harvested some charlotte potates from a large bag I had been growing them in. The next day I cooked them (boiled in a pan for 15 mins) and all the skins broke and although the potatoes were alright to eat they were very fluffy and stodgy and looked terrible.

What did I do wrong?

Did I leave them in the ground too long?
Should I have left them longer out of the ground for the skins to harden?
Should I have steamed them instead of boiling them?

Opinions please!

[flitwickone]

steaming maybe better im told different spuds have different amount of starch in them so
steaming can be a better way to cook

there will be a chef along shortly 

[arugula]

We grew Charlottes for the first time this year and found them very thin skinned and lacking in flavour. I did steam the first lot then boiled in skins after that. We felt they tasted better boiled than steamed.

If you left them in the ground until the haulms died back then they were in long enough. I wouldn't have thought they were in too long given the timescales we're working to here. The skins may have improved with air storage...

I won't grow Charlottes again.

[Yorkie]

This is a regular question from people who are cooking their own spuds.

Steaming is definitely safer than boiling, and 15 mins sounds much too long.  Home grown spuds don't seem to need as long as shop bought ones.

I swear by Charlotte and grow them every year without trouble.

[Gardener Girl]

Thanks everyone, I will try again with the next bag full.

GG

[sunshineband]

Test them carefully after about 8 mins of gentle boil, using fork prongs.

If they push in.. spuds are done 

[rainbow1]

With any new type of spud I tend to boil for half my normal cooking time then drain of almost all the water and leave for the other half of the coking time to sort of steam in the residual heat of the pan. I tend to find they cook all the way through and don't fall to bits that way.

[Yorkie]

Not heard of that method before but it would seem to make sense, we'll try to remember that for future similar threads   

[titch]

i too ended up doing the same as rainbow, but had mashed charlottes for a while before it occurred to me to try that method, once i did they were lovely