potatoes disintegrated on cooking - how to salvage the rest?

[linspins]

We were so excited to dig our first potatoes up and looked forward to eating them boiled - but on cooking them we ended up with a gloop of disintegrated mush, with a few raw lumps. Oh the great disappointment!
On searching the internet I found:
"If potatoes are produced during a very dry growing season, they will tend to have a higher than normal solid content and less moisture. When these are cooked, they absorb more water than usual and, as a result, fall apart at the end of cooking."
Bearing in mind we've had hardly a drop of rain for as long as I can remember here this summer, this sounds like what's wrong with my spuds. I have watered them but obviously not enough (and I am on a water meter).
My question is: can I save the rest that are still growing in the ground? If I water them lots, then dig them up, will they be ok?
Or would soaking them before cooking help? Anyone got any ideas?
Help save my spuds!

Ours do this all the time - we've found steaming them works best but only for a few mins - check them regularly - they don't absorb the water the same.
hope that works

Sorry to hear it - what variety are they? Some varieties are not suitable at all for boiling in the first place and they will turn to mush.....

However, if they are a boiling variety, make sure the sizes of pieces you cook are as even as possible, so cut some in two (or more) pieces to get them as close as possible to the same size.

And I haven't tried steaming, but that does sound worth a go and keep a close eye checking with a skewer from time to time....

I don't know what variety they are (mental note to self to write it down next year!!) but I think they look floury rather than waxy. We tried roasting some at the weekend, and that was better. Haven't tried steaming them but that's on the menu this week!

Can you make them into lovely buttery mash?

Well the problem is GooseyLoosey, that the outsides literally dissolved into the cooking water, while the insides were still hard. So it'd have to be a thin potato gruel like in Oliver twist!
Mmm, thinking of mash now though...[hungry emoticon]

Exactly the same issue as you linspins. Very disappointing. I too, have them still in the ground and am digging up as and when i need them so hoping i might have better luck with some of the rest. I have 2 different varieties growing, cannot remember the names but hoping this is just one type.

Microwave them in their skins.

Can see that spud gruel might not be quite so nice as buttery mash. Think I would try micro waving them with very little water and see if that works.

I gave up growing spuds last year as I had such high expectations and was rewarded with pretty horrid mud tasting lumps.

mmm mash!

We have a relative who grows gorgeous potatoes (can potatoes be gorgeous? I think so lol!) and I asked him for some recommendations. These are some of the ones he grows and they seem to turn out delicious(might be his green fingers tho!)

Top 3:
Belle de fontenays (sp?) - good boilers
Rockets - good chips
Rattes

Different types are good for different things but since you're not sure what sort yours are I think the best thing for this year is eat them when they're still small - they taste good that way and that might stop them being mush out the outside and hard in the middle.

ps.
International Kidney (lol)
Maris Piper
Blue Danube

are good too!

I’ve grown potatoes for the first time this year and so far have dug up 3 different varieties which are all disintegrating on cooking so is definitely the dry weather syndrome. I barely watered them at all either. Such a shame and very disappointing. Tried making chips with the bigger ones but they were so solid and strange - again I suppose due to the low water content in them.

Live in NW so perhaps not as dry as it's been further south. Grew Kestrel (2nd earliest and supposed to be resistant to slugs) in bags last year, never grown spuds before. When harvested a couple of the bags the spuds had gone rotten, which I think was a combination of overwatering and poor drainage. The rest were great, used them for everything including gnocchi.

This year have gone with Kestrel again and Ratte. Just dug up some Ratte (fingerling) potatoes, they're very waxy but good used as new potatoes would be.

Bit anxious about the Kestrels now, will see tomorrow. If I have the same problem, I'd see if baking them in their skins, would keep/reduce the moisture. The skins just pull off once theyre cool enough to handle. At least could put them through a ricer and have a mash or more gnocchi, if I can be arsed.

If ever I overboil potatoes, or they are a bit like yours, I drain them, and tip the whole lot into a roasting tin, then shove them in the oven for half an hour. We call it 'crash' - crispy mash.

Try Mozart a nice red variety. Sainsbury and Aldi.

Sarpo Mira is good for slug resistance.