For some time, I’d thought that it’s better to season your potatoes when they are hot, but I’d never actually figured out why Do they actually absorb more seasoning, or could it just be a psychosomatic effect? To find out, I cooked three separate batches of potatoes, this time using green food coloring as a stand-in for the salt and vinegar The first batch I cooked in green-colored water The second batch I cooked in plain water, then “seasoned” with green-colored water after draining them, while they were still hot I allowed the last batch to cool completely before tossing with green water After all the batches cooled completely, I cut a cube from each one in half to see how far the food coloring had penetrated The potato that was cooked in seasoned water and the one that was “seasoned” while still hot were a light shade of green all the way to their centers, while the potato that was seasoned after cooling was mostly pale in the center, with a single green streak where a natural fault in the potato existed The reason for this is twofold First, the cooked starch on the surface of the potatoes hardens and gelatinizes as it cools, making it harder for anything to penetrate Second, as the potatoes cool, they contract and tighten up slightly, making it harder for any seasoning to work its way into the center, even if it manages to make it past the gelatinized starch sheath on the exterior As you will have noticed, whether the potatoes were cooked in seasoned water or seasoned immediately after ...existed The reason for this is twofold First, the cooked starch on the surface of the potatoes hardens and gelatinizes as it cools, making it harder for anything to penetrate Second, as the potatoes... potatoes cool, they contract and tighten up slightly, making it harder for any seasoning to work its way into the center, even if it manages to make it past the gelatinized starch sheath on the exterior... manages to make it past the gelatinized starch sheath on the exterior As you will have noticed, whether the potatoes were cooked in seasoned water or seasoned immediately after