Gnocchi troubles

[Fat Al]

Just made some potato gnocchi from scratch (plain flour & Maris Piper spuds), when I cooked it (plenty of boiling water and pulled them out when they surfaced) they tasted fine but had a rather greyish hue about them. Is there any way of keeping them a nice white colour or is this just wishful thinking?

[Mezzaluna]

What kind of pot did you use? Maybe an aluminum pot could do that.

What method did you use?

[Fat Al]

I used a stainless steel pan so that isn't the problem. The method was really simple: boiled the spuds then ran them through a ricer, seasoned then added the plain flour and kneaded it together, rolled out the dough into a 2cm diameter sausage, chopped up and then chilled the gnocchi for about an hour or so. Dropped them into boiling water and heaved them out when they surfaced. Tasted great just looked a bit grey.

[Mangilao30]

I noticed the rotating center of my ricer was a bit metallic the last time I used it and it oozed a bit of a steel gray residue into the potatoes. I clean and dried it better so the next time I stored it, it would not be a problem. Could this have happened to you? (It was not rust, it looked like diluted engine oil) Ha! That would have tasted bad.

[Fat Al]

Ive checked my ricer for sludge, slime, gunge and anything else that may have sneaked in there when I wasnt looking but it appears to be clean. I've just heard somewhere down the line that gnocchi should be made with dark skinned spuds as opposed to white ones, which I used for my grey batch, so I'm off to get some Desiree to so if they make a difference. Cheers for the idea though.

[Hannibal]

You know, I seem to encounter a similar problem with plain boiled potatoes: if I drain them and then leave at room temp to cool down, often (though not always) large grey patches develop through the flesh of the potatoes. They still taste fine, just like your gnocci. Sorry I can't help, but I'm just as mystified as you are.

[phatch]

You're seeing the bruises in the potato in your case Hannibal.

Phil

[panini]

Fat Al,
Missed this post. Love your name!
The potato is oxidizing which does not effect the flavor. The key is to store cooked potatos free from air. Don't let them cool on the counter. Keep them in water. Another reason for the potato to turn gray is the storage of the potato. If you store the spud too cold the graying will occur. Store them out of light in a cool place.
HTH

[Fat Al]

Cheers Panini, I've taken all the good advice onboard and will watch what I'm doing with the spuds, hopefully the next batch will look better, probably give it a go later in the week. Watch this space...