Potatoes South Australia wins grant to develop vodka from waste potato peelings

In an effort to combat food waste, Potatoes South Australia has teamed up with the University of Adelaide and Adelaide Hills Distillery to make vodka from potato skins. Robbie Davis, chief executive officer of Potatoes SA, said at a national level, food loss in the agricultural industry — pre farm gate — was $3 billion annually. “But the horticulture component of that is $1.8 billion dollars annually, and potatoes are the biggest contributor,” she said. Potatoes South Australia received $30,000 for the project from the State Government. Ms Davis said although whole potatoes were already used to make vodka, they hoped to determine if a premium SA spirit could be made using only waste potato peel. “Having gone to lots of processing plants — what is happening to the skins? Why shouldn’t we try and use them for something?” she said. “The potential is just phenomenal. We want to do a comparison between different varieties of potatoes and their skins, and we will also do a comparison with whole potatoes.” More