In case you hadn't noticed yet, potatoes are the ingredient for The CookingBites Recipe Challenge!
A few interesting things about potatoes:
Sources: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11540-008-9121-2; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato; http://www.history-magazine.com/potato.html
A few interesting things about potatoes:
- In 2010, Chris Voigt, the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, tried a crazy experiment: 2 months of eating only potatoes. At first, he ate only when he felt hungry, and lost 12 lb in 3 weeks. To get enough calories, he then increased his intake to 20 potatoes a day… and he said he’d never felt so stuffed. Despite apparently meeting his calorie needs, Voigt lost 9 more pounds throughout the rest of the experiment. Not only that, his blood measures (such as cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood glucose) improved.
- Potatoes contain trace amounts of naturally occurring temazepam and diazepam (aka Valium) along with L-tyrosine (a precursor to dopamine). I wonder if this is why they feature so often in comfort food?
- Early Spanish chroniclers — who misused the Indian word batata (sweet potato) as the name for the potato — noted the importance of the tuber to the Incan Empire. The Incas had learned to preserve the potato for storage by dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a substance called chuñu. Chuñu could be stored in a room for up to 10 years, providing excellent insurance against possible crop failures. It sounds like the Incas invented 'Smash'!
- The Incas measured their units of time by how long it took to cook a potato.
- China is the world’s leading producer of potatoes, growing 22% of all potatoes. Production continues to rise, owing to increases in both land devoted to potato production and yield per hectare. Most potato production occurs in the northern and southwest regions of the country. The processing of coarse starch is the most important component of the potato processing industry in China.
Sources: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11540-008-9121-2; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_potato; http://www.history-magazine.com/potato.html