1. What kind of a pan are you cooking your potatoes in? An aluminum pan can cause potatoes to discolor.

2. What kind of a knife are you using to peel or cube potatoes? A carbon steel knife can cause the potatoes to change color, so use a stainless steel knife.

3. Do you peel your potatoes before or after cooking them? If peeling first, make sure you cover them with cold water to prevent oxidizing while you are peeling. You can add a little lemon juice to the soaking water to prevent oxidizing and discoloring. Drain, add fresh COLD water before cooking. I also think it pays to use the correct type of potato to begin with. Choose a waxy type potato (small red potatoes or Yukon gold) when the potato needs to be boiled; not starchy Idaho baking potatoes - as the name implies, are best used for baking.

4. How are you cooking your eggs? If you make them using a rolling boil method, that is using a temperature that is much too high and you'll end up with that gray/green layer between the yolks and whites, and the whites will be tough.
How to hard-cook (NOT hard-boil) eggs:
-Place room temperature eggs in saucepan large enough to hold them in a single layer.
-Add cold water to cover eggs by 1 inch, add 1/2 t. salt to the water.
-Heat over high heat JUST to boiling.
-Remove from burner and cover pan.
-Let eggs stand in the hot water, covered with the pan lid:
*12 minutes for Medium eggs
*15 minutes for Large eggs
*18 minutes for Extra Large eggs
-Cool completely under cold running water or in a bowl of ice water.

Steam-cooking eggs is another method to help prevent this problem.

5. Work quickly to put the potato salad together. The longer it is exposed to oxygen, the more likely you are to get gray potatoes. The dressing is there to help coat the potatoes so they don't oxidize from exposure to air and turn gray. Instead of using less mayo, you can use part plain yogurt for a portion of the mayo, but you need enough dressing to lightly coat the mixture or you get exactly what you got.....

-Grainlady

Thank you. I use Russet potatoes, as my Mom did. I boil whole, unpeeled potatoes in a Revere Ware pot or Dutch oven, same as my Mom.
I don't remember how she boiled her eggs but I just put them in at the beginning with the potatoes. I actually like VERY hard boiled eggs.
The paring knife-it's one of those colored knives. I don't know what those are called. Its a light green knife. The handle says "Hampton Parer".

Deeby, that happens to me sometimes, if I cut the potatoes and let them sit too long before cooking. I've never had the eggs turn gray, though.

I think Grainlady might be right in her assessment of not having enough dressing. You have to cover all the components of the salad with the dressing to prevent oxidation.

Annie

And maybe it's the knife? Only one or two of the egg white turns gray.
I can't stand mayonnaise and so I use as little as I can get away with.
It's important to me that things taste the way my Mom cooked. For that reason I wouldn't use a yogurt dressing. I miss her so.

Deeby, I know what you mean. There are things I make that must taste like they did when Grandma made them. That includes her Farmhouse White Bread, her Blueberry Crisp and her Molasses Cookies.

Other things can be different, but some things just aren't right any other way.

Annie

I can't answer your question but if you like potatoes and don't like mayo, then try a salsa verde on your potatoes. I love it.
Chop : fresh herbs, capers, black olives, gerkhins, add mustard, oil, salt and pepper.... leave out anything you don't like!

It seems to me if it takes a couple of hours to turn gray that the air is getting to your egg and potatoes are oxidizing because they don't have enough dressing.

If you don't like the taste of mayo try tossing the potato salad with a bit of vinegar and oil dressing first--just enough to give a light coating to the potatoes-- and then add the mayo. The acid in the vinegar will help keep the potatoes from oxidizing and the oil and vinegar will cut down on the need for a lot of mayo and give the dressing a little tang

I understand how you miss your mom. I miss mine, too.

I'm trying to understand something. Did you like your mom's potato salad the way she made it? If you did, I'd do it exactly the same way, complete with mayonnaise, since you liked it when she made it that way.

Do you have her recipe? Or, are you trying to figure out how she made it, and guessing she used mayonnaise? Maybe she used Miracle Whip?

Sally

The potatoes could be discolouring because the store you buy them from stores them in a cold room- or you do. Chilling raw potatoes tends to make the turn grey to black when they are cooked.
If you're putting your eggs in at the same time as whole russet potatoes, they are way overcooked and I'm not surprised they are turning grey.

Sally, I meant using the same basics. She added only chopped radishes and chopped dill pickles, and sprinkled the top with paprika. No red onion or celery.