As you can imagine, with our experience in the past of growing potatoes and more recently, of making potato-based products, there’s not a lot we Bannisters don’t know about these versatile veggies. So what better way to kick off our blog than by telling you ten things you may or may not know about the humble spud.*

1. The Latin name for potato is Solanum Tuberosum.
2. Potatoes originated in the South American Andes 8000 years ago but they weren’t introduced to Europe until the mid-1500s.
3. In October 1995, potatoes became the first vegetable to be grown in space.
4. China is the world’s largest producer of potatoes, with the UK being the 11^th largest potato producing country.
5. 325 million tonnes of potatoes were grown worldwide in 2007.
6. There are around 5000 varieties of potato.
7. 15% of the nation’s entire vitamin C intake comes from the potato.
8. In Britain we consume 94kg of potatoes per person, per year.
9. The largest recorded potato in the world was grown in Germany in 1997 and weighed 3.2kg.
10. 2008 was the United Nations International Year of the Potato.

So there you have it, not only are potatoes absolutely delicious and extremely good for you, they’re also rather interesting too.

Jo

*Source: Love Potatoes – www.lovepotatoes.co.uk