Useless Facts That You Probably Were Better Off Not Knowing

Did you know that ... ?

The largest potato ever recorded according to the The Guinness Book of World Records, was 7 pounds 13 ounces and was grown in 1994 by K. Sloan from the Isle of Man

Today potatoes are grown in all 50 states of the USA and in about 125 countries throughout the world

The potato is about 80% water and 20% solids

The average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes per year while Germans eat about twice as much

An 8-ounce baked or boiled potato has only about 100 calories

The world's largest potato chip (on exhibit at the Potato Expo) was produced by the Pringle's Company in Jackson, TN in 1990. It measures 23" x 14.5"

Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing "french fries" to America when he served them at a White House dinner

Less than 1 acre of potatoes can produce enough potato gasahol to fill up 25 cars

In 1974, an Englishman named Eric Jenkins grew 370 pounds of potatoes from one plant

Laying a potato peel at the door of a girl on May Day showed her that you disliked her

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on American television

Dried potato flakes were used for snowflakes in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Instant mashed-potato flakes are often used to imitate fallen snow

The word "pothole" which we use to describe a hole in the road came from the Irish. They boiled their daily meal of potatoes in a pot. When the potatoes were finished cooking, the pot was lifted off the fire and set on the ground to cool. In the process of mashing the potatoes, the pot would be pushed into the ground. In time, a deep hole would develop, a pothole!

 

Potatoes are a natural stain remover! When you get a stain on your clothing, let it dry. Then rub a fresh potato over the stain for a couple of minutes. Wash your clothes with laundry detergent and water as you usually do. The enzymes in the potato will probably have removed most, if not all, of the stain

 

The Irish referred to potatoes as "spuds," the name that came from a type of spade used for digging potatoes - actually, I have received information that this is not true. The name "spud" actually derives from a group of prominent English businessmen that called themselves "The Society For The Prevention of Unfit Diets" or SPUD. They disliked the Irish, so they made it their goal to discourage the importation of potatoes into England for consumption by the populace. L

 

Potatoes are highly digestible (duh, they wouldn't be so popular if they had the digestibility of cellulose). On top of being a good source of everybody's favorite stuff, carbohydrates, they are a source for vitamin C, the B vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, iron, amino acids, protein, thiamin, and nicotinic acid. Most of the minerals and protein are concentrated in a thin layer beneath the skin, and the skin itself is a good source of food fiber. Not only are they valued for their nutritional aspects, but they are also a source for starch, flour, alcohol, dextrin, and fodder (whatever that is)

 

Betcha didn't know that the potato has 48 chromosomes, huh?

 

There was even a war called the Potato War (AKA War of the Bavarian Sucession)

 

Halley's Comet is described as having a potato-esque shape

 

Van Gough had a painting called "The Potato Eaters"