22 Surprising Facts And Figures About Potato

Potato is one of the most consumed vegetables around the world. It is also one of the oldest domesticated vegetation. Potato is native to the Americas. It is one of the major staple foods in the world. Potato is high in carbohydrates, vitamin B, and other minerals. Potatoes are consumed raw, fried, mashed, and cooked. Potato is also the most cultivated root vegetable.

Potato cultivation dates back to 8000 bc. The potato was domesticated at that time. The history of potato consumption can be much older than that. The potato was the primary source of energy in many ancient civilizations. Many consider potatoes responsible for population growth and urbanization in European countries. The potato was brought to Europe by Spanish explorers and sailors from the Americas by the late 16th century. By the 19th century, the cultivation of potatoes became popular in European countries. As a staple food, it played a vital role in the rapid growth of the population of Europe. The Portuguese introduced the potato to southern India. British traders brought the potato to Bangle. By the late 18th century, it became a popular root from all over India.

Potato is cultivated all over the world now. The potato is grown as a major crop in many countries. Potatoes grow in many different agro-ecological conditions. Potato is now grown on high scales in 130 countries. Billions of kilos of potatoes are consumed every year worldwide. The potato has cultural significance in many parts of the world. These are some amazing potato facts:

Potato is an ancient plant. They started to evolve around 350 million years ago. Ancestor plats of potato were poisonous. Potato shares the same ancestor with tomatoes, chili peppers, bell peppers, and some other plants.

Potato cultivation Started in Peru and Bolivia in around 8000 bc. Incas are the first known people to make huge cultivations of potatoes. They took the crop as the principal source of energy.

There are around 4,000 varieties of potato. There are 180 species identified as wild potatoes. Wild potatoes are bitter in taste.

Maincrop potatoes are usually larger than other potatoes. These potatoes need 15-20 weeks to grow up to their full size.

Fingerling potatoes are known to be the smallest variety of potatoes. These potatoes naturally grow small and narrow.

La Bonnotte potatoes are the most expensive potato variety. One kilogram of La Bonnotte potatoes is priced at US$600. The unique variety is only cultivated on the French island of Noirmoutier.

The largest potato ever grown was 7 pounds 1 ounce. The humongous potato was grown by two British farmers J. East and J. Busby.

French fries are possibly the most consumed potato snack. The snack is more popular in the US than in any other country. In the US, people eat 30 pounds of fries a year per person on average.

According to Faostat, the per capita consumption of potatoes is 33.5 kg in the world. The potato is the third most important food crop in the world.

China eats the highest amount of potato as a country. Chinese people consumed 61,980-kilotonnes of potato in the year 2017.

376,826,967 metric tonnes of potatoes were harvested In the year 2019.

China is producing the highest amount of potatoes. The country produces over 26.3% of world production.

There are several potato museums in the world. There are potato museums in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. The Canadian Potato Museum in O'Leary is the largest in the world.

The largest ever potato chip is kept in the Idaho Potato Museum, Idaho. The potato chip measures 25 inches in dia.

Frito Lay, Inc is the largest potato chip manufacturing company. The company sells over 200 different flavors of potato chips.

It takes about 3.5 Kg of Potatoes to get the final 1 Kg potato chips.

Around a billion people eat at least 1 potato each day.

Potatoes can grow in many diverse conditions. There are records of growing potatoes 15,420 feet above sea level.

August 19 is celebrated as the National Potato Day in the United States.

The Potato Eaters is an oil painting by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. He painted the famous piece in April 1885.

The potato was considered a delicacy of the imperial family During the Ming dynasty.

Potatoes can be a better raw material for ethanol fuel production.

Potatoes are amazing. It is believed that we can entirely live on potatoes. They are one of the major food for billions of people. These are all we have on potatoes for now. Thanks for reading the article.