The Humble Potato
To my knowledge, the humble potato is the only food that is almost nutritionally complete and which you can nearly live on. It doesn't have enough of some B vitamin or other, so if you pair it with a little buttermilk (or meat), you can eat mostly potatoes for years.
The fact that it is such a strong staple food is part of why The Irish Potato Famine was such a big deal for Ireland. Large families with small plots of land were mostly growing potatoes to keep their families fed. Those with farms above a certain size survived the famine because they grew a wider variety of foods on their farms. Farms below a certain size failed and were sold, leading to major changes in land use patterns in Ireland.
Not only is the potato nearly nutritionally complete, few people are allergic to it. I have read stories of people "allergic to everything" or with mystery ailments who decided to eat only potatoes and got dramatically better.
Like tomatoes, it is a member of the nightshade family and some people do have trouble with nightshades. Such people report benefiting from cutting potatoes out of their diet.
The main issue with nightshade is solanine, which is actually poisonous. It is found in higher concentrations in green spots in potatoes, which comes from sun exposure.
It is actually possible to get solanine poisoning from potatoes and even die from it, however it's rare. But you should always store potatoes in a dark place and cut green spots out of potatoes as part of the preparation process.
Do not store potatoes and apples in the same bin. When stored together, they produce ethylene gas, which encourages both to rot faster.
If you need to do vegetable prep ahead of time for some reason, you can store peeled and cut potatoes in salt water in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to prevent them from turning brown. Make sure the potatoes are completely submerged for best results.
There are many varieties of potatoes and several types reduce how much vegetable prep you need to do. Golden potatoes, red potatoes, new potatoes and fingerlings can all be cooked without peeling them and new potatoes and fingerlings are both small enough that you typically don't need to cut them up.
Of course, there are other qualities that can matter when choosing which potato variety to use for a given dish, such as level of starchiness. Some recipes require starchy potatoes and such potatoes tend to need more preparation, though you can cheat a little and pay a bit more for baking potatoes which tend to have fewer blemishes.
There are endless potato recipes, from simple basics to fancy and complicated. Here are just a few ideas:
The fact that it is such a strong staple food is part of why The Irish Potato Famine was such a big deal for Ireland. Large families with small plots of land were mostly growing potatoes to keep their families fed. Those with farms above a certain size survived the famine because they grew a wider variety of foods on their farms. Farms below a certain size failed and were sold, leading to major changes in land use patterns in Ireland.
Not only is the potato nearly nutritionally complete, few people are allergic to it. I have read stories of people "allergic to everything" or with mystery ailments who decided to eat only potatoes and got dramatically better.
Like tomatoes, it is a member of the nightshade family and some people do have trouble with nightshades. Such people report benefiting from cutting potatoes out of their diet.
The main issue with nightshade is solanine, which is actually poisonous. It is found in higher concentrations in green spots in potatoes, which comes from sun exposure.
It is actually possible to get solanine poisoning from potatoes and even die from it, however it's rare. But you should always store potatoes in a dark place and cut green spots out of potatoes as part of the preparation process.
Do not store potatoes and apples in the same bin. When stored together, they produce ethylene gas, which encourages both to rot faster.
If you need to do vegetable prep ahead of time for some reason, you can store peeled and cut potatoes in salt water in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to prevent them from turning brown. Make sure the potatoes are completely submerged for best results.
There are many varieties of potatoes and several types reduce how much vegetable prep you need to do. Golden potatoes, red potatoes, new potatoes and fingerlings can all be cooked without peeling them and new potatoes and fingerlings are both small enough that you typically don't need to cut them up.
Of course, there are other qualities that can matter when choosing which potato variety to use for a given dish, such as level of starchiness. Some recipes require starchy potatoes and such potatoes tend to need more preparation, though you can cheat a little and pay a bit more for baking potatoes which tend to have fewer blemishes.
There are endless potato recipes, from simple basics to fancy and complicated. Here are just a few ideas:
- Mashed potatoes
- Hash browns
- Potato soup
- Baked potatoes
- Fresh or leftover potatoes fried with an egg
- French fries
- German potato balls
- Potato salad
- Raw Potato Salad
