To work as promised, the potato must suck in salt but not flavor. Like in the myth, a potato will absorb salt until the salt level inside the starchy tuber matches the salt level in the soup. Remove the potato, and you remove some of the salt.
Here is what my research found. plus, if the potato absorbs salt AND flavor AND water in the same proportions as the stew, its no different than ladling out a bit of liquid. To work as promised, the potato must suck in salt but not flavor.
One frequent answer is, well, potatoes don’t pull salt out of anything. They do absorb water, though—and if that water happens to be salty, they’ll absorb salty water. But they’re not absorbing salt in particular. Potatoes are amazing, but they’re not capable of reverse osmosis. It’s more like using a sponge to soak up a spill.
What happens to a potato in salt water?
A large number of salt entered the cells of the potato, more water exits the cell (like in the hypertonic solution) causing the cell to snivel or die causing the potato to shrink . Why does a potato gain weight in distilled water?
We learned the shrinking and expanding of the potato strips is due to osmosis . Potatoes are made of cells, and their cell walls act as semipermeable membranes. The 0 grams solution contains less salts and more water than the potato cells (which have more salts and less water).
Water will move from an area of less salt to more salt (more water to less water), and so when the potato is placed in the salt water, all the water that is inside the potato (yes, plants have a lot of water inside of them, that’s what gives a plant it’s structure) moves out by osmosis. Also Know, why does a potato shrink in sugar water ?
The incoming water in the potato cells pushes on the cell walls and makes the cells bigger. As a result the whole potato strip gets bigger. The opposite is the case in the higher concentration salt solutions .
The most usefull answer is: Loss of water from the potato results in the cells , and hence the potato, shrinking. In principle, removing the potato (without cooking it) and then putting it in fresh, pure water will result in water diffusing across the cell membranes INTO the potato, since the cells contain the more concentrated “solution” of sugars and starch.
Why are my potatoes so salty?
Pay attention to the salt content that comes built in to some ingredients like some broths or cheeses, which could make the salinity level sneak up on you. As for potatoes, well, they always make an excellent side dish . Find out more tricks on how to fix food that’s too salty.
One answer is, The theory is that if you add a potato to a salty soup and simmer it, the potato comes out salty. If there’s salt in the potato, it stands to reason that you’ve removed some of the salt from the soup .
What happens to the mass of a potato during osmosis?
Through the process of Osmosis, water will move from a region of high water potential (‘concentration’) to low water potential. Therefore, water will slowly leave the cells of the potato and enter the sugar solution in an attempt to reach equilibrium and the potato will therefore lose mass .