Are you a meat n’ potatoes kinda guy? Au Gratin with a light steak kinda girl? Whether you love to inhale a bag of potato chips, or you observe your starch intake carefully – there’s no doubt potatoes are a part of your eating regime on a semi-regular basis.

 

More potassium than a banana. Packed with energy for maximum performance. 110 calories. Essential vitamins and minerals. Fat, sodium, and cholesterol-free.

Let’s just sum this up to say that potatoes meet all the marks on our criteria on all fronts. Unlike with many other commodities, it doesn’t matter the variety of potato to get this nutritional value. There are very minimal differences stacking up between all potatoes, whether brown, red, or white – they are an optimal choice.

 

No matter what, the benefits that come with consuming potatoes will provide an incredible amount of vitamin C, a great source of fiber for the skin, vitamin B6, and all the potassium you could wish for. Many people are under the impression that all the nutrients of a potato are in the skin – but this is a myth! The skin does indeed hold about half of the total fiber, but many of the remaining nutrients are within the potato ‘meat,’ if you will.

 

While these puppies might have a substantial amount of carbohydrates – hence the ‘meat and potatoes’ reference, they are also naturally gluten-free. Something to note that you do not always find around the world is that potatoes are a staple food in many, many cultures in all types of cuisine. This makes sense, as potatoes are the world’s FOURTH largest food crop!

 

So, where did it all begin, leading to one of the biggest commodities in the world? Spanish Conquistadors took over Peru in the 1500s, and once they found the crop of potatoes; they carried them over to Europe. Ireland was the home of all potatoes in Europe for about forty years before the commodity moved around the rest of Europe.

Fun fact: potatoes are the first vegetable to be grown in space! NASA proved this in 1995, a significant discovery for the rest of history.

 

Curious about what turned people on to “French Fries?” A chef for French King Louis Phillipe accidentally created them! He was plunging fried potatoes into a scalding oil just to get them instantly hot, as the King was late to dinner one evening. Next thing he knew, he came across these ‘puffed potatoes.’ Little did anyone know those little puffed up potato bites would turn into the world sensation of French fries, as we know them today. In the United States, it was Thomas Jefferson who first served them in the White House while he was President.

 

Tipping our hats off to you, Mr. Jefferson!