Here are 15 Interesting Potato facts.
1-5 Potato Facts
1. In order to popularize potatoes in France, Antoine-Augustin Parmentier placed armed guards around his potato fields, instructing the guards to accept all bribes and allow people to “steal” the crop. – Source
2. Potatoes have almost all nutrients humans need to survive. To prove this, the Executive Director of the Washington State Potato Commission ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days. – Source
3. If a potato is exposed to light while growing, it will turn green and become poisonous. – Source
4. The potato has been studied by NASA as an important food source for long space voyages, and that the number of potato plants (grown on board a spaceship) needed to sustain one astronaut is also the amount of potato plant required to process the air breathed by one astronaut. – Source
5. It is possible to combine a potato plant and a tomato plant into a “tomtato”, a hybrid that yields both potatoes and tomatoes. – Source
6-10 Potato Facts
6. China leads the world in potato production with 25% of the world’s total. – Source
7. The introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter of the population growth in Europe from 1750 to 1900. – Source
8. 2008 was the UN approved International Year of the Potato. – Source
9. The Inca people had a goddess of potatoes. Villages would have one particularly odd-shaped potato that would be worshiped in hopes of a bountiful harvest. – Source
10. There is an American Journal of Potato Research. – Source
11-15 Potato Facts
11. Vitelotte Noire is a gourmet French variety of blue-violet potato. – Source
12. Potato poisoning can cause paralysis, coma, and hallucinations for days. If left untreated, also death. – Source
13. Potato starch is used in oil drilling. The starch reduces fluid loss in the “drilling mud”, a liquid which is pumped into the hole to clean and cool the drill bit. – Source
14. Potato plants are usually pollinated by insects such as bumblebees. – Source
15. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest potato grown was 7 pounds 1 ounce by J. East (1953) and J. Busby (1982) of Great Britain. – Source
The source of nr 15 says the biggest potato is over 10 pound