I’ll be having my family (and extended family) over for a Hanukkah brunch. No matter how many latkes I make, there are never enough, and I usually end up frying batch after batch after batch. It’s labor intensive and time consuming, so this year I’m taking a shortcut. I sent my daughter on a latke-tasting mission in NYC, but decided against “importing” them when I saw that they cost between $2.50 and $3.00 EACH. Then, after reading some fairly good reviews of Trader Joe’s latkes, I decided to give them a try and guess what… they’re VERY good!!! I bought a box of 8, baked half in the oven and fried the rest in canola oil. The oven baked – not so great. But the fried are almost as good as my from-scratch latkes. Much better than I ever thought possible from a box. So yes, I’ll still be frying them, but that’s easy. Problem solved!!!
Shame, shame! Kidding, what ever gets you through the night. Sounds like you are still going to fry
Frying is the hardest part to me. I use a food pro to grate unless I’m doing a small amount, add powdered vitamin C to keep them from turing brown so the mix holds up well. That takes little time compared to standing at the stove frying batch after batch after batch. If I was doing a lot I might consider frying the day before and crisping and reheating them up and in the oven just before serving and when you’re out you’re out!
Why is this the first I am hearing of this??? Vitamin C powder…regular from the drugstore???
Regular low cost ones from the drug or grocery store. Doesn’t take much. Maybe one 500mg to treat a lot of ground potatoes. Can’t taste it. I just crush them in a mortar and pestle to a fine powder
Thanks! I see a lot of hash browns in my future 
I think it has to be ascorbic acid specifically? Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
I could live on them!!!
When making them from scratch I use the FP too. And I find that if I alternate the onions with the potatoes when I grate them, they don’t turn dark. But then there’s the task of squeeeeeeezing the liquid out, and that’s quite time consuming. That, and the fact that the kitchen is a mess when I’m finally finished. So frying the pre-made latkes will be relatively quick, easy and not messy.
Same thing in most cases. I’ve never seen vitamin C sold as anything but
Not great for doing large quantities at one time but I’ve been using a potato ricer to remove a lot of water from the grated potatoes. Squeeze the crap out of them. They get really dry and I can decant and scoop out the starch to add back in
Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.
Ascorbic acid is vitamin C, but is only one of many forms of it sold as supplements.
The vitamin c trick works great to keep super fresh green soups that amazing color too (spring pea soup, asparagus soup, prevents broccoli soup crom going grey/green…)
Now, if I can just manage to remember this the next time I’m making soup or hash browns 
I’ve been using this method… put the grated potatoes and onions into a cheesecloth-lined bowl. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth, wrap them around the handle of a wooden spoon and twist.
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I’ve been using this method… put the grated potatoes and onions into a cheesecloth-lined bowl. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth, wrap them around the handle of a wooden spoon and twist.
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I do that with a thin cotton kitchen towel that is now nicely stained The towels also work well for keeping washed lettuce fresh
Yeh that’s how I have done it. The ricer gets even more water out if you squeeze like it owes you money 
You can also find it as Citric Acid Powder, through pet supply outlets among other places.
When I showed Siamese and Orientals, I used it in the special diet I mixed up for them to supplement the canned cat food of that era. I also used it when baking desserts with apples, pears, and peaches
As I recall, I found that the TJ latkes had decent flavor but were too thick/dense for me.
If I were making them from scratch, I’d make them thinner than TJ’s, but TJ’s do crisp up nicely, especially around the edges.
CindyJ,
Use a salad spinner to get most of the liquid out, then squeeze what’s left. Much less work.
Duffy
