Why I’ll Never Buy Another Potato Without the Farmer “Sniff Rule” Again (It Guarantees They’re Fluffy!)

A potato is a beautiful thing. So versatile! So delicious! So cheap! I could eat the savory spuds every meal of the day in the fall and winter, and have. 

All three resoundingly repeated the same thing: Remember where your potatoes came from (underground, naturally), and only grab the ones that smell like dirt. 

Unwashed, dirt-speckled potatoes are like unpolished (edible) gems. Because they aren’t washed, they haven’t been exposed to as much moisture as other spuds. That means their skins are less likely to break down, which keeps them from moldy, mushy potatoes. Basically, less moisture = sturdy, starchy potatoes.

My new friend Farmer Rick, who runs a stand at the Echo Park farmers market says even grocery store potatoes (which are typically washed and brushed) can still manage to smell dirty enough to pass this test. My other pals Farmer Alfonso and Brandon, who also run stalls at the same market in Los Angeles, echoed this same sentiment, adding that the potatoes should smell earthy (naturally) and loamy, not unlike a bag of soil you pick up from a hardware store. 

You don’t want to smell anything rotten or sour nearby, either. Potatoes are much like apples and even a single bad one can cause the others nearby to bruise, sprout, and/or become less-than-firm. You’ll want to get a good whiff of all the potatoes in that bag of spuds you’re grabbing from the store. 

If you’re lucky enough to live near a farmers market, chances are you can even score unwashed potatoes. These will clearly be the best for a number of reasons — freshness, quality, limiting food miles, supporting the local economy, not to mention less moisture on the skin, which will actually break down the potato and cause those “eyes” to sprout. Unwashed potatoes will also last longer, up to two to three months on average. 

I missed my farmers market day this week, so I decided to sniff around my grocery store to find the earthiest potatoes on the shelf. I wish these articles had smell-o-vision, because it would be so much easier to demonstrate this, but by and large I only opted for the potatoes that met my strict sniffing criteria — earthy, dirty, and absolutely no sour smells allowed.

All the potatoes I grabbed were destined to be mashed into creamy, starchy submission with just a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Okay, and then topped with a soft boiled egg, Parmesan cream, caramelized onions, and a drizzle of ultradense, inky balsamic vinegar. (I really wanted to re-create a dish I discovered on a recent trip to Northern Italy and have yet to stop dreaming about.)

Especially for this dish (and spuds in general), the ideal potatoes would all have a good bit of starch and hefty density, yet turn fluffy when mashed — and by goddess, they were. I really only needed a touch of olive oil to mash them, becoming fork-tender after 12 to 15 minutes of boiling. Even with the rich runny egg yolks and Parmesan of it all, the humble potato base was easily the runaway hit of this dish, and I’ll never pick a less-than-dirty potato again. 

Do you have a foolproof potato tip to share? Tell us about it in the comments below.