My editor recently informed me that September just happens to be National Potato Month. Being both an Irishman by ancestry and a lover of all things potato- mashed, baked, french-fried and roasted – I eagerly offered to do some digging for dirt on the beloved vegetable.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, potatoes are the most popular veggie in America… hands down. Unfortunately that’s a greasy hands down because a great many of our processed potatoes end up as french fries!
The USDA claims the typical American munches more than 140 pounds of potatoes every year. That’s a full 50 pounds more than the per-capita consumption of tomatoes, the second-place veggie. And that second-place ranking is kinda ironic since tomatoes are technically a fruit anyway!
Despite our love of potatoes, we are not the top dog when it comes to potato consumption. We finish somewhere around 7th place; top honors go to our German friends who each year chow down on 200 pounds apiece!
On average, Americans eat more than 16 pounds of french fries every year. That comes out to more than 2 million tons of poor potatoes that met their demise shoe-stringed or julienned and plunged into bubbling-hot deep fryer fat!
By the way, France and Belgium are at war over which country invented french fries. The Belgians claim their street vendors sold “Belgian fries” from pushcarts before the French adapted the idea in the middle of the 19th century. My kids couldn’t care less who formulated the fry – they’re just thankful that someone had the sense to set sail for America with the not-so-secret fries recipe!
POTATO TAKES: Roughly one of every 14 potatoes grown in the U.S. ends up as McDonald’s fries! The fast food giant has no beef with the fact that it churns out more than 1/3 of all the fries sold in U.S. restaurants.
Ok, so here is a potato puzzler that has long haunted me: tuber, or not tuber… that is the question. Stop groaning! Since I am considered the Shakespeare of shaky eating anyway, I thought I’d painfully contort the Bard’s famous line for my report on potatoes. For those of you who thought a tuber was someone who floats down a river on a rubber donut, I offer this nugget: The part of the potato plant we eat is called the tuber. And a tuber is actually an enlarged underground stem. Each potato plant produces multiple tubers which can come in a variety of colors. Most common are the red and white varieties.
MORE POTATO TAKES: Bet you didn’t know…
o A potato is about 80% water, 20% solid.
o Henry Spalding planted the first Idaho potatoes in 1837.
o The Guinness Book of Records says the largest potato ever – an 18-pound, 4-ounce monster – was grown in England in 1795.
o Potato chips were invented in 1853 at a fashionable resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, after railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt complained his fried potatoes were too thick and sent them back to the kitchen. To spite his finicky guest, Chef George Crum sliced some potatoes paper thin, fried them in hot oil, and salted them. Vanderbilt loved the “Saratoga Crunch Chips” and the rest is history.
o The potato is the second most consumed food in America, trailing only milk products.
Despite its popularity, the poor potato suffers a bad rap. But deep-fry anything and it becomes a bad food! In reality, potatoes are one of the most nutritious foods you can eat. One medium-sized potato has fewer calories than a grapefruit, more potassium than a banana, and more usable iron than any other vegetable. Potatoes are also high in fiber, and loaded with complex carbohydrates. Best of all, potatoes are fat-free and extremely versatile.
When you think of potatoes, you can’t help but think of Idaho. While digging for info, I found a lot of interesting stuff at http://www.idahopotato.com. A sampling…
o Bingham County in eastern Idaho produces almost as many potatoes as the entire state of Maine.
o Why are potatoes referred to as spuds? One theory is that the term refers to a spudder which is a shovel-like utensil used to dig up the potatoes. Spud may also refer to the wooden barrel the sorters would put small potatoes into when sorting for larger ones. The abbreviation for these unwanted veggies: SPUD which stands for Some Potatoes Under Developed.
o For the best-looking baked potato, pierce the potato with a fork, once lengthwise and crosswise. Press the potato at both ends and it will “blossom.” Never use a knife for opening a baked potato; it flattens the surface and alters the normal fluffy texture of a baked Idaho spud.
No one is about to alter the oft-repeated adage, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” but there are plenty of “Old Potato Tales” concerning potato power. Chew on these…
o A potato in your pocket will cure rheumatism and eczema!
o Potatoes should be put on sore muscles and oozing sores to draw out the pain. If you have a wart, rub it with a cut potato, then bury the potato in the ground. As the potato rots in the ground, your wart will disappear.
o Carrying a peeled potato in a pocket on the same side as a bad tooth would cure the tooth as soon as the potato fell apart.
But pregnant women might be advised to fight their potato cravings. Otherwise the baby will be born with a big head, legend says!
