I grew up in an area where the folks eat a lot more rice than potatoes. Southeastern NC used to have rice plantations, and the residents still love that rice.
Since moving to TN, I’ve eaten many more potatoes and have found out just how many ways you can serve them. Also, I grow them every year in my garden.
History
Potatoes are a root tuber and the name for them is Solanum tuberosum. They are a member of the nightshade family as are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tobacco. Nightshades have a substance within the plant that wards off most pests—nicotine. Just handle a tomato plant then smell your hands. Daggone it they now smell like tobacco.
So where did potatoes come from? They are a species that originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. When the Spanish came to South America in the 1500s, they took potatoes back to their country with them. Sir Walter Raleigh of England took potatoes to Ireland in the late 1500s and planted 40,000 acres of them. Forty years later, potatoes were grown all over Europe. It wasn’t until the early 1700s that potatoes were successfully introduced into American agriculture by Scotch-Irish immigrants. (1)
My own family had their lives dramatically altered by the potato. The blight that caused the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s spread to northern Europe. My father’s family was from northern Germany and migrated to the US when the potato blight began to cause crop failure and the resulting starvation in that country. Interestingly, the potato blight is a fungus and related to the fungal blight that infects tomatoes. And we, who live in this area, know all about late tomato blight.
Potatoes are among the top four crops grown in the world. The list includes rice, wheat, maize (corn), and potatoes.
Home gardeners try to grow enough potatoes to last through winter and hopefully until the next potato crop is harvested. All those potatoes are usually stored in a root cellar, which keeps the potatoes dry and cool. The root cellar is supposed to keep the potatoes from freezing yet cold enough to prevent sprouting.
Nutritional Value
What nutritionists say about potatoes is familiar to me. Remember the egg? One year they’re good for you, the next year they aren’t. So it goes with the potato.
But wait, potatoes ARE good for you. They are high in fiber, vitamin C and minerals. Moreover, potatoes are part of a well-balanced diet. Besides, potatoes are cheap and filling.
Let’s take a look at a plain old tater and its nutrition. Costing about 25 cents, a medium potato that you eat with the skin on you get:
-110 calories
-45% of your daily value of vitamin C
-potassium 614 mg
-fiber 2 g
-fat-free and sodium-free
-also a source of calcium, iron, B vitamins, phosphorous, zinc, magnesium, and copper
-good carbohydrates (2)
That makes the potato a pretty good food to eat. Combine that with the many ways to cook potatoes, and you have the ‘great American staple.’
If the only ways you eat potatoes are fried, mashed with gravy, or baked with butter and sour cream, you might think potatoes aren’t that good for you. But they are if they’re cooked right. And yes, I do love good French fries.
Recipes
My mom used to cook boiled potatoes at least once a week. She would make either mashed potatoes or potato salad, but she always left one potato for the refrigerator. As a kid, I loved cold boiled potatoes, and that extra potato was for me. I’d get the salt shaker and take the potato out to the back porch. Take a bite, shake a little salt, take another bite until it was all gone. Now that is good eating.
I have a few good recipes for potatoes: potato cakes, scalloped potatoes and potatoes au gratin.
Potato Cakes: Serves 4
Ingredients
-2 cups left over mashed potatoes
-1/4 cup finely chopped onions
-1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
-1/4 teaspoon dill weed
-1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
-Salt, pepper and paprika to taste
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Form 1/2 inch thick patties from the mix that are 2-3 inches across.
Dreg the patties in seasoned all purpose flour then put them on a plate and refrigerate least 1 hour. The cold potatoes don’t fall apart when you fry them if the oil is hot enough to create a crust before the patty gets warm on the inside.
Take a frying pan and pour in about 1/2 to 1 inch of vegetable oil.
Heat the oil until when you add one drop of water it sizzles.
Fry the patties a few at a time until they are heated through and golden brown. Don’t crowd the pan, or the temperature of the oil will go down and you’ll end up with greasy potato cakes.
Drain the cakes on paper towels then pat the tops with a paper towel too.
Eat however you like them; you can use butter, sour cream, yogurt, Dijon mustard, or even applesauce. These are good for any meal although I’m partial to them for breakfast.
Scalloped Potatoes: Serves 4
Ingredients
-3 tablespoons chopped or thinly sliced onion
-3 tablespoons butter or margarine
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon pepper
-2 1/2 cups milk
-4 thinly sliced potatoes
Directions
In a large saucepan, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until blended. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
Place half of potatoes in a greased 1 quart baking dish. Pour half of sauce over potatoes. Repeat layers. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until potatoes are tender and top is lightly browned.
Potatoes au Gratin: Serves 4
Ingredients
-4 russet potatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
-1 onion, sliced into rings
-salt and pepper to taste
-3 tablespoons butter
-3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-2 cups milk
-1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or use cooking spray a 1 quart casserole dish.
Layer 1/2 of the potatoes into bottom of the prepared casserole dish. Top with the onion slices, and add the remaining potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a medium-size saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Mix in the flour and salt, and stir constantly with a whisk for one minute. Stir in milk. Cook until mixture has thickened. Stir in cheese all at once, and continue stirring until melted, about 30 to 60 seconds. Pour cheese over the potatoes and cover the dish with aluminum foil or lid.
Bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven.
I like to remove the top the last 10 minutes to let the potatoes brown.
Both the scalloped and au gratin potatoes can be cooked in a crock pot. Cook them 3 hours on high or 7-9 hours on low. The dish won’t be browned on top, but it will be delicious.
Potatoes are good for you, cheap and plentiful. You can take any potato recipe and make it low calorie and low fat. I love all the recipes, but I do have a favorite way to use potatoes. Fresh green beans, diced Vidalia onions, unpeeled small red new potatoes quartered, and a dash of cayenne pepper flakes. You can season with ham, chicken or beef bouillon if you so choose. And of course this is best when the vegetables come right out of your garden. My mouth is watering. Now when will those beans be ready to pick and taters ready to dig?
1. What’s Cooking: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PotatoHistory.htm
2. Washington State Potato Commission: http://www.potatoes.com/Nutrition.cfm
© 2011, Katherine B. Hegemann
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