Low carb potatoes

spinningwoman

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I just noticed in Sid's post that he was talking about squeezing *par-boiled* potatoes. I don't think that would work, if that's really what he meant. I would think they would need to be raw to get the starch out - otherwise it will have expanded. Raw, it comes out like tiny specks of cornflour.
 

graham64

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Don't despair if all else fails there's another use for the spud thats exremely Low Carb, what it is I'll have to leave to your imagination :D .

Cheers
Graham
 

Sid Bonkers

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spinningwoman said:
I just noticed in Sid's post that he was talking about squeezing *par-boiled* potatoes. I don't think that would work

I don't know where the par boiled thing came from Spinningwomen, I think I must have got my recipes mixed up :oops:

Made it last night and had it with the Pork with Stilton in Cider and both were lovely :D I will need to do some more testing but early signs are looking good.

1 1/2 lb's potatoes after peeling, washing and straining/pressing when cooked made a pizza shaped round Rosti about 10" across and about 1" thick. I eat 1/4 portion that weighed in at just under 4oz with mixed veg and the Pork. I eat a medium sized orange for 'afters' and washed it down with a shared bottle of Cava (sparking white wine). This would compare with a typical meal carb wise so I covered it with a typical 3 units of fast acting insulin.

Numbers:
Pre meal 5.1
1hr later 7.9
2hrs later 5.4
Then had 4 high fibre crackers and cheese
Bed time reading 3hrs after diner 4.7 (good job I ate the crackers I think!!)

So what I found was that my numbers increased to roughly the same level as they would have if I had eaten 4oz of spuds 'ordinair' or rice etc, but seemed to drop quicker the 4.7 at bed time is lower than I have recorded for over a week. I obviously didnt wash out all the carbs but I feel that my 'processing' must have had a favourable affect on the potatoes plus they tasted really nice :)

rosti.jpg


I plan to have another 1/4 for my lunch today with a tuna salad.
 

spinningwoman

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Oh, gosh - I didn't realise you could put photos on posts here! Food porn... I'm not sure it should be allowed<g>.

I'm going to have another go with the juicer as I'm at home for lunch today. Maybe I'll even take photos too.
 

Sid Bonkers

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Good luck with your juicing :)
 

Patch

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This is really exciting to me. I really miss carbs when I'm having a full english breakfast. being able to add rosti, or a hash brown is gonna be a god send!

Now I'm craving a nice rosti with a runny yolk fried egg on top... :mrgreen:
 

spinningwoman

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I gave it another go. No pictures, as I forgot to switch the extractor fan on and set off the smoke alarm. This time I juice one quite large potato which was 294g. I got out of that 177g juice which was about 150mls. I ended up with 96g of useable pulp; the rest being stuck in the juicer presumably.

This time I didn't mix it with egg; I just seasoned it and moulded it into a patty and fried it with bacon and egg. It probably wasn't quite as scrummy as Sid's rosti - it was more like the little patties of left-over mash my mother used to fry with bacon, but it was very nice and tasted of potato. It also had virtually no effect on my BS - 5.4 before and 5.5 after 1 hr (I also had a coffee with cream with it). I couldn't test at 2 or 3hrs because I was in an interview.

Tomorrow I think I might try the grating method and compare.
 

spinningwoman

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I tried the grating method today for Sunday lunch, and it was much more successful than I expected. I grated a potato for each person and submerged the grated potato in cold water. This washed out a lot of starch. I changed the water twice, swirling the potato round until no more seemed to come off it. The I tipped the strained strands into a tea towel and wrung them out to get as much liquid off as I could.

I added about half a grated onion, one egg (for 4 medium potatoes) and seasoning, then fried it in a cake about 1/2 inch thick. I ate a quarter of it - ie one potato's worth, with steak and vegetables, followed by mixed berries and cream. My pre-lunch level was unusually low at 4.6, which I was a bit surprised about because I had eaten a crumbed chicken leg at a buffet about an hour before. 1 hr after the lunch, I was at 6.4; but at 2 hrs I was higher at 7.0. However, by just less than 3 hours I was down to 5.7.

So although it had more impact than the juiced potato, the grating and washing did make a significant difference and would definitely mean that this was something I could eat. My kids loved it too - I didn't tell them it was reduced carb<g>.
 

Sid Bonkers

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I used a food processor which has a grating disk to grate my potatoes and when I went to put it away I found another disk which grates a smaller strand, I will try that disk next time I try it and see if it reduces the carb 'hit' even more. I assume the smaller the strands the more starch I can remove.

I have had this food processor for years and years and hardly ever used it hence I had forgotten that it had two different sized grater/slicers :D
 

spinningwoman

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Just to round off my contribution on an rather geeky note - the extracted starch from my first juicing experiment has been dried out to a powder and weighs 49g. *If* this is comparable to commercial potato starch thickener (which is also produced by water extraction and filtration, according to the website) - and it certainly feels and looks similar - then it is almost pure carbohydrate - 40g carbs out of that 49g. Even if we assume it will be less pure than the commercial extraction, that's enough to make a substantial difference to the carb ratio in the remaining potato.

However, your mileage may vary. If you are going to try it, do your own testing and let us know the results.
 

Cowboyjim

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Fascinating - that science-chef on the box would be proud of you!

I'd like to return to spuds and have often wondered how to get the starch out. There must be some chemistry that you can apply because I suspect they must use this to make BK 'chips' etc or something. They can keep the starch while we eat what's left.

I have messed about with mixing leftover mash with cabbage to make bubble n squeak but even tho it tasted nice (ish) I have yet to test the BG effect. 'Juiced' spuds might make for good B&S. 8)
 
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phoenix

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You can alter the nature of the starch in potatoes by cooking and then cooling(in a fridge), this causes some of the starch to become retrograde starch which is not absorbed by the body. This effect lasts even when the potato is reheated. The variety used also matters a lot.
One study found gis of
intermediate (boiled red potatoes consumed cold: 56) to moderately high (roasted California white potatoes: 72; baked US Russet potatoes: 77) to high (instant mashed potatoes: 88; boiled red potatoes: 89) and concluded 'Individuals who wish to minimize dietary glycemic index can be advised to precook potatoes and consume them cold or reheated'
Another found a 25% reduction in GI by cooking, cooling and reheating. Others have found that adding vinegar makes it lower still as does fat, so a potato salad has a much lower gi than hot potatoes.

I'm just trying to think is it possible to cook and reheat the Rosti described above? .. this could lower the gi further (as long as the starch that was extracted wasn't the same starch that normally retrogrades on cooling)... interesting.
 

Moogie1947

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By using the slicing plate on a food processor or a hand mandolin slicer, making them very thin indeed, before soaking and squeezing/pressing out the juice you might even be able to make acceptable lower carb potato crisps or game chips. I don't have a deep fat fryer or I would try it out.
 

Patch

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Anyone marketing lo-carb potatoe crisps would be a millionairre in no time...
 

cugila

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Patch said:
Anyone marketing lo-carb potatoe crisps would be a millionairre in no time...


Depends what you mean by low carb.......how low a low carber you are ? A 25g bag (multipack) of Walkers Ready Salted Crisps is only 12.4g carbs. So as far as I'm concerned that would be fine as a snack......once in a while and they are heavenly.... :D

I also buy M & S Roast Beef & Onion in 180g bags. Now the carb content of the whole bag is a whopping 98.28g carbs !!! Eeek ! More than my daily quota.

What I do is measure out a portion of around 25g which has a total carb content of 13.65g carbs. Just reseal the pack or place in a sealed container and they will keep fresh and crisp for a couple of weeks, no problem. It really is all down to portion sizes and WILLPOWER ! :D
 

descartesmum

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For Hanukkah I make potato pancakes, latkes, and after putting the potatoes in the food processor to grate I put the potatoes in a dishcloth and wring it out so they are as dry as I can get. My bs doesn't rise that much after eating them.
 

findave

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I didn't catch whether you were using cooked or raw potatoes. or I think you have a really good idea and I'd like to give it a try. David Wilson
 

spinningwoman

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Hi, Dave - if you read the first couple of pages in this thread you will see how Sid and I both tried grating potatoes for reduced carb potato pancakes and how we went about it.
 

Living-by-the-beach

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I read this link about resistant starches https://www.southdenver.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Resistant-Starch-for-web.pdf
and I boiled a pot of potatoes yesterday, so I cooked them and then cooled them overnight in the fridge. Today I got my Cuisinart Chef out with grater attachment and made Swiss Roesti with the help of Mary Berry


I've not been testing for a while but the cooked then cooled potatoes then fried with onions and bacon + an egg tasted really good. Perhaps someone who's currently using a test meter can check whether this is a good replacement for someone that's suffering from T2DM.


I do believe I've gotten my T2DM under very good control with via exercise being that during last three years I've cycled 13,000+ miles and am on target to cycle 5000 miles / annum..