I like produce. I like to grow it. I like to eat it. I like to create recipes with it. I’m also kind of a nerd and like to get to know my produce. I like learning new or fun tidbits of info about the produce I’m growing/eating/baking. If you’re a weirdo like me then buckle up for this new series as I dive into a plethora of produce facts and share them with you.
1. A potato is about 80% water. That seems crazy for as heavy as they are but it’s true!
2. Potatoes are technically veggies but they contain a lot of starchy carbs that make them more like bread, rice, or pasta in terms of nutrition.
3. “French Fries” were introduced to America when Thomas Jefferson served them at a White House dinner.
5. Despite health concerns, potato chips are one of the most common snack foods in the world with billions of bags being consumed every year.
6. The potato is the world’s fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize. The Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C.
8. Potatoes were the first vegetable grown in space! 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 spud.
10. Every year enough potatoes are grown worldwide to cover a four-lane motorway circling the world six times.
Had you heard any of those fun facts before? Do you have any of your own to add? Is there a particular produce item you want to know more about?
Grow on,
Mavis
Salted Potatoes! It’s the best side dish ever. How can something simple be so good? Go make these Salt Potatoes and you will see.
Linda Sand says
I don’t know if it is fact or myth but I was told the pilgrims peeled potatoes then ate the peelings and threw away the insides.
Mavis Butterfield says
That is crazy!
Linda DeGroot says
Potatoes when cooked and then cooled form resistant starch. The body does not digest it, so the glycemic index is lower in the cooled potatoes. However, when heated to no more than 130 F degrees, it is still resistant starch. So, it appears that potato salad is not as fattening as hot potatoes. Diabetics can eat cold potatoes.
Jenny Young says
Linda I have never heard this before? My husband just reached the 20 yr mark of living with juvenile diabetes. He rarely eats potatoes because when he does his glucose level goes too high. I’ll have to ask him if he’s noticed a difference eating cold potatoes versus hot.
Jenny Young says
Another thought?….What about potato chips? My husband eats pork rinds fried in oil & it barely raises his levels if any at all but potato chips fried int he same oils still raises his levels very high? Your comment has blown my mind….I am constantly research diabetes because I plan all of our meals & snacks.