5 Things You Didn’t Know About Potatoes
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Potatoes
Potatoes are some of the most popular vegetables and can be served and cooked in many different ways. Many of us eat potatoes in some form or other on a regular basis and there is often nothing better than some hot chips or creamy mashed potato with our favourite meal, but there is more to this humble tuber than meets the eye. Take a look at 5 things you probably didn’t know about the potato.
There are many different variations of potato and each has its own use
Thought you might only have seen a few different varieties of potatoes available in the grocery store, there are actually hundreds of potatoes grown all over the world, and new varieties are being created all the time. Each variety has different uses, for example Yukon Gold potatoes are great for mashed potatoes and Russet Burbanks work well for potato chips.
Sweet potatoes aren’t actually potatoes
Despite their name, sweet potatoes belong to the convolvulaceae family (otherwise known as the morning glory family) and are actually swollen roots. They are actually not related to the potato.
Potatoes were first grown is South America
Many people assume that potatoes come from Ireland, and while they do grow there, potatoes were first cultivated by the Indians in Peru around 8,000 BC to 5,000 BC. The vegetable then made its way to Europe aboard Spanish conquistador ships around 1570, and these crops were mainly used for animal feed. The push for humans to eat the nutritious vegetable only came in 1795.
Potatoes were the first vegetable grown in space
In a partnership between NASA and the University of Wisconsin, seed potatoes were first tested in space in 1995 aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. Then, in 2004, NASA started using a Chinese technique to make the ultimate chamber-grown potato.
To grow potatoes, you plant actual potatoes.
There are no seeds involved when it comes to growing potatoes. You will need to plant actual pieces of potato as long as each pieces has at least two eyes. The eyes are the growing points on potato tubers.
If you have a craving for potatoes, be sure to add our delicious chips to your next Anat meal. We use top quality potatoes to get chips that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
