Harvest and Storage True "new" potatoes are immature tubers, harvested from green vines during the late spring and throughout the summer. They are moist and sweet, relatively low in starch, and perishable. Mature potatoes are harvested in the fall. The vines are killed by cutting or drying, and the tubers are left in the soil for several weeks to "cure" and toughen their skin. Potatoes can be stored in the dark tor months, during which their flavor inten- sifies; slow enzyme action generates fatty, fruity, and flowery notes from cell-menn- brane lipids. The ideal storage temperature is 45-50 F/7-10°C. At warmer tempera- tures they may sprout or decay, and at colder temperatures their metabolism shifts in a complicated way that results in the breakdown of some starch to sugars. Mak- ers of potato chips must recondition