To scrub potatoes, I usually just get the dish towel wet and wrap the towel around the potato and twist it a few times. A bonus is that you can actually see the dirt come off on the towel! I rinse the scrubbed-off dirt off the potatoes after Ive scrubbed them all, just because it seems faster that way.
Also, why are potatoes so dirty? Since potatoes grow in dirt, they do need to be washed at some point when harvested out in the fields. We try to keep the dirt on till the potatoes come out of storage, as washing them immediately might trap moisture in the eyes of the potatoes and create a musty or mold smell while stored.
Secondly, do you need to scrub potatoes before boiling?
Washing Potatoes Before You Boil Them. A: All potatoes are flumed in water as they go down the sorting lines and washed before being packed into cartons or bags, it doesnt hurt to rinse them one more time to get any surface dirt or sand off the potatoes you receive.
Should you wash red potatoes before cooking?
No, you do not need to peel red potatoes before baking. As others have already said, good basic food hygiene washing and scrubbing plus removal of any eyes or sprouts suffices. It is a relatively new culinary tradition to leave the peel on for baking, boiling and roasting.
