Summary
An ice pond system manufactures large volumes of ice with the cold of winter, and during the warm season refrigerates a storage building by way of heat exchange between ice-cooled water and air. Five potato varieties were stored for nine months using this system. Changes in the storage environment and potato tuber quality were investigated.HomePage
The storage was refrigerated using an ice pond from the end of March, and the storage environment was maintained at 2 C-degree and 92-98% relative humidity till the end of July. There was no sprouting of any variety, and the weight loss and the decrease in hardness of potato tubers were very small, well within acceptable values. Cooking quality of stored potatoes was quite good and the sweetness increased because of the increased reducing sugar content resulting from long-term cold storage. Furthermore, both the degree of blacking after cooking and that of browning after peeling of potato tubers were low compared with normal temperature storage. The experiment has proven that long-term potato storage with an ice pond system is feasible.Keywords: ice pond system, potato storage, weight loss, hardness, sprouting, reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, blacking, browning, cooking quality