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February 9, 2006 Potatoes are Nutritional Bargain Potatoes are easy to prepare, good for you and economical. That’s the message potato producers and nutritionists hope to get across during February, Potato Lovers Month. For years, potatoes have gotten a bad rap as being bad for you. “Potatoes aren’t fattening; the common toppings people put on them pile on the fat and calories,” says Julie Garden-Robinson, North Dakota State University Extension Service food and nutrition specialist. A 5 1/2-ounce potato, about the size of a computer mouse, has 100 calories, no fat, 26 grams of carbohydrate and 3 grams of fiber. It also has 21 percent of the daily recommendation for potassium and 45 percent of vitamin C, plus other nutrients. Garden-Robinson says Americans are falling short on their intake of potassium, vitamin C and fiber. A potato this size would provide one-twentieth of the average adult’s daily calorie needs. Potatoes are available from the grocery store in a variety of forms - fresh, frozen, instant and canned. You also can grow them in your garden or buy them at a farmers market. They’re easy to prepare, too. You can bake, boil, fry, microwave, grill or steam them. Potatoes are a tuber vegetable. That means the edible part grows underground. The potato originated in South America, according to the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association, based in East Grand Forks, Minn. The Incas of Peru first cultivated the potato in about 200 B.C. The Incas had a lot of uses for the potato, including placing raw slices on broken bones to heal them, carrying potatoes to ward off rheumatism and eating them with other food to prevent indigestion. The Inca also used potatoes to tell time. They correlated units of time with how long cooking a potato took them. Spanish conquistadors discovered potatoes in the Andes of Bolivia and Peru in 1537. They took the potato to Europe, then travelers brought it to the U.S. Today potatoes are Americans’ favorite vegetable. They consume about 134 pounds of potatoes per person every year, the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association says. North Dakota producers harvested 82,000 acres of potatoes in 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service reports. That harvest yielded an average of 250 hundredweight per acre, or 250 100-pound bags of potatoes. NDSU plays a major role in the potato industry. In 2005, NDSU’s potato breeding program celebrated its 75th anniversary. Its plant breeders have released 23 cultivars and collaborated with breeding programs throughout the U.S. and Canada to release other cultivars. “We’re very fortunate to have had a potato breeding program for that many years, and to have so many cultivars that have a large impact on the potato industry in the U.S.,” says NDSU potato breeder Susie Thompson. Here are some tips for purchasing, storing and cooking potatoes:
For more food and nutrition information, visit the NDSU Extension Service Web site at www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/food.htm or the USDA’s new food guide at www.mypyramid.gov. To learn more about potatoes, check out the U.S. Potato Board’s Web site at www.uspotatoes.com/index.html or the Northern Plains Potato Growers Association Web site at www.rrvpotatoes.org/consumer-facts.htm. ### Source:
Julie Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
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North Dakota State University |
