POTATOES

When the potato gained popular acceptance as a food item in the UK about 200 years ago it quickly became, and has remained, a major component of the diet. The reasons for its popularity are both agronomic and culinary. The potato is easily cultivated in our temperate climate and gives good yields even if harvested immature in summer, as often happened, to fill the gap between cereal harvests. The potato has a natural dormant period which allows it to be stored through the winter months when other fresh vegetables are in short supply. It lends itself readily to a wide range of cooking methods of which the most common are chipped, boiled, mashed, roast and baked, although it can also be made into flour and used to replace or extend wheat flour in certain baked foods. So well established has the potato become that it is now difficult to envisage a hot cooked meal without potatoes — despite the popularity and convenience of pastas and rice.