5 Facts About Potatoes You Probably Didn’t Know About

A lot of people seem to be interested in potatoes lately and why not? Potatoes are tasty, fun and did I mention, tasty? They are also are versatile and can grow in the most ridiculous conditions. Like rice and corn, the fibre-rich crop accounts for most of the world’s diet. Potatoes are also gluten-free and contain all sorts of vitamins and minerals. Since it’s obvious that I’m singing the praise of potatoes today, I’ll be sharing a few facts about this amazing tuber that you might not already know. 

• Potatoes can be used to make strong spirits like vodka. The process is similar to how most alcoholic drinks are made: the potatoes are fermented and then distilled to increase the alcohol level. To get the best quality, the drink can be distilled up to four times. 

• Do you remember the movie, The Martian? You know, the 2015 movie where Matt Damon plays a botanist who got stuck in Mars because he was believed to be dead? He had to become a spatial Robinson Crusoe and figure out a way to survive on a planet without food. Well, one of the major food crops he planted were potatoes, and that part’s not fiction because potatoes can grow literally anywhere. Actually, in 1995, potatoes were grown in space before, aboard the space shuttle Columbia, currently holding the record for the first food to be grown in space.

• Have you ever returned from a long trip and noticed your potatoes sprouting and growing? Well, that’s because POTATOES ARE STILL ALIVE WHEN THEY ARE HARVESTED. This one kind of hurt because imagine cutting into something that’s still alive. I might just stop eating potatoes because my heart cannot take it. 

• Apart from being versatile and one of the most important crops in the world, potatoes also come in about 5,000 different variants, with about 180 being wild potatoes. The most common potato (good for mashing and baking) is the Russet potato, the one most people have in their minds as the classic potato.

• Potatoes are 80% water, 20% solids so if you eat a considerable number of potatoes in a day, you’re probably already set in the hydration department.