Potato chips, French fries, mashed potatoes and a little something every mom makes best – oven baked potatoes. Yup, we sure love this crop and eat a lot of it, but is that enough to make us wish to know more about it? To find out some of the most interesting facts about potatoes and share them with others? Well, I hope the answer is, “yes”, because I have dug up 7 interesting facts about potatoes for you today.
And I mean literally! Incas were the first ones to feast on this delicious crop way back in 200 BC, then it was reintroduced to society back 1500’s and it remained the most popular side dish to this date. Now, if I remember the story correctly, potatoes were actually considered poisonous and, as such, played a very big role in the plot to poison the king. The king ate what his enemies thought will be his last meal and, oh the shock, lived to ask for another portion… and another… and another.
Not many people appreciate potato blossoms these days, luckily, that was not the case with Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette who actually enjoyed sporting it as an accessory. Yup, royalty obviously has a thing for potatoes and there are even rumors that Prince William and his bride-to-be Kate will be serving fish and chips on their wedding this month.
Potatoes are not only good, they are out of this world and I mean literally. You’ll be surprised to know this not-so-special crop was the first one to be grown in space back in 1995 when the space shuttle Columbia left earth carrying potato plants as its precious cargo. Now, who dares to say this crop isn’t special!
Potatoes can save us in case a major disaster occurs because they are extremely easy and cheap to grow, require very little fertilizer and are very healthy if not fried, of course. They are one of the most important crops in the world, too so next time you’re thinking about corn, wheat and rice, do take some time to think about potatoes and their importance too.
Check the Guinness Book of Records, if you don’t believe me. There, you’ll find one monstrously huge potato that weighs 18 pounds! Now, that might not sound very impressive at first but let me just tell you this - my dog weights only 2 pounds more. Still not impressed? Well, listen to this – this potato is so huge that if McDonald’s was to chop it, fry it and divide it in medium sized portions, more than 70 happy customers would much on their fries completely unaware of the fact that they are all eating the same potato!
Thinking about adding color to your everyday dishes? Why not go shopping for blue or purple potatoes? Yup, they really exist and they are indeed totally blue, bluer than any hickey and as blue as the eggplant peel. People say these potatoes are great for mashing so, next time you want to surprise your kids, just make crazy, blue mashed potatoes.
And I really mean a LOT! Average European eats about 88 kilos of it per year while, in other areas of the world, this number goes from as little as 15kilos per year to a staggering 90! That’s a whole bunch of carbs, girls!
Do you know of some other, less known and equally interesting facts about potatoes? Do tell!
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