Potato detox.

From the University of Cincinnati.

"Potato Waffles With Smoked Trout."

"Serve warm topped with crème fraîche, smoked trout pieces and salmon roe, with lemon wedges on the side."

African women grow rich...

on potatoes:

“I used to stay in a small apartment, but thanks to this venture, I have managed to extend my apartment into a respectable piece of property,” [Shyline Chipfika] says.

Urban potato bag farming.

Meat and Potato Pie.

Because it's still winter. Make it with Melissa.

"If you aren't a rutabaga fan, you can use all potatoes, or a combination of white and sweet potatoes."

Potato 101

"New potatoes are harvested very early when they are about two inches long. The skin of this potato contains a high level of moisture. The flesh is sweet and contains a lower level of starch. New potatoes are great for boiling, steaming, baking, pan-frying, or roasting. They also work well in potato salads, soups, stews, and casseroles."

"Spud-U-Don't-Like."

"It was 100 per cent resistant to blight, which caused Irish famine of 1845."

Pornstar or Potato?

Warning: Not Safe for Work (unless you work in the industry. And I don't mean the potato industry.) Btw, my score wasn't very good. I only got 3 right.

Potato Days.

Next one - this Thursday, February 13, 2014, St Paul's Church Hall, Malmesbury Road Chippenham, which is 13 miles east of Bath and 101 miles west of London. Here, let me draw you a map. This is where you wll find some of the Best Varieties for growing in your own edible garden:

BEST VARIETIES ‘Ratte’ – aka ‘Asparges’ or ‘Cornichon’ – Early maincrop. An old (1872) fingerling variety (long and thin) that keeps its shape well when cooked. More importantly, its distinctive chestnut flavour becomes even more pronounced when eaten cold or just-warm in salads. ‘Roseval’ – Second early. A waxy salad potato from the Fifties, with a dark red Skin and a deep yellow flesh with a mild, buttery flavour. ‘Charlotte’ – Second early. A fairly new and reliable variety (inset), widely grown commercially. Can produce rather large tubers. ‘Belle de Fontenay’ – Second early An old (1885) variety that is hugely popular here and in France. Really flavoursome and with a superb waxy texture. ‘Cherie’ – First early A fabulous, recent variety with beautiful deep rose skin and a yellow, waxy flesh. Delicious, perfect for salads and fine sautéed too. ‘Cheyenne’ – Second early A recent, red-skinned, yellow-fleshed salad variety with a fine flavour. If you are overrun with salad potatoes, leave these to mature. ‘Bleu D’Auvergne’. Main crop. A classic French heirloom with a purple-blue skin and waxy white flesh. Purées perfectly thanks to its fine-grained texture. Not to be confused with, but very happy to be eaten with, the cheese of the same name. ‘Coquine’ – Second early A new variety that’s a bit of a hedge-your-bets choice as it’s bred for resistance to late blight but has all the fine flavour you’d expect of a French salad variety.

Potato Days: very British, Mate...Love... Duck... Petit chou... Chuchuzinho... Tamago gata no kao... Terron de azucar... Buah hatiku... Ma puce... Ghazal... Chang noi... Chen yu luo yan... Golubushka

Old bean.

“Her boobs are so big!” one commenter wrote.

"Ah! There! She finally has her potato!"

"Wisconsin potato grower inducted into hall of fame."

Myron Soik of Stevens Point, Wis.

"Currently, [the Bunami Brothers are] growing a sweet potato variety called the Vita seed orange, which takes a short time to mature, and is rich in vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium and fibre."

Squeezing juice out of sweet potatoes.

Potatoes jump...

in Minnesota.

While a December price was not yet available the average price per 100 pounds this year was $10.33, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fracking potatoes.

"As an organization, we have sought ways in which to reduce our footprint on the environment. Through this vertical integration, we've found an effective way to reduce plant waste that in turn generates environmentally responsible inputs that we can use to sustainably produce our Hardbite line of chips, said Kirk Homenick, President of Naturally Homegrown Foods.

Carbon potato footprint.

"We appreciate folks' concerns, and we're also conscientious of the environment, so we want to do what's right for the environment and the community.”

"The real thing is called a Lenco Self-Propelled 'Airhead' Potato Harvester…"

"...and it’s about 60 feet long, capable of pulling a dozen rows of potatoes from the ground at once and then sifting dirt away from the potatoes and dumping the dirt back in the field. It can fill a truck with more than 38,000 pounds of potatoes in minutes, comes with a price tag of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars, and only about 78 are being used in the state."

(photo source)

Mushed potato.

TAR-JAY shoppers Targeted...

…by KAR-TOE-SHA.

"Wielding a piece of malware called ‘potato’ in Russian, Eastern European hackers stormed past the digital firewalls of Target and six other retailers to steal credit cards belonging to a quarter of the US population."

ADDED: Tibore, the commenter, has more.

Potato red line.

“The product has been spotted in several places and I would like to know how those in charge of monitoring the import of foreign products allowed it into the country,” he said. However, Abdul Aziz Al Samhan, the head of the Cooperative Societies Union, has denied the existence of any Israeli products in Kuwait’s cooperatives. “This is definitely a red line that no one is allowed to cross under any name,” he said in a statement.

Is Obama being a dic-tater?

"'That should be dictated by science,' Greenaway said. The potato industry says it has science on its side. Mark Szymanski of the National Potato Council points out that the USDA’s own dietary guidelines issued in 2010 recommend consumption of starchy vegetables. He says a potato provides potassium, dietary fiber and folate that can be helpful for pregnant women and is also economical, which could help low-income mothers stretch their dollars."

Labra-tato

Zeus on Lake Mendota @-2F

St. Ber-tato

Abby @-13F

Mr. Potato

 Dr. John S. Niederhauser (1916–2005) 

[I]nternationally renowned scientist and adjunct professor of pathology in the UA College of Agriculture from 1985-2005, was awarded the World Food Prize in 1990 for his leadership in developing potato varieties resistant to disease and fostering international cooperation to improve the world's food supply and alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Known as "Mr. Potato," his work impacted agricultural production in more than 60 countries.

One of Niederhauser's most important scientific contributions was the development of potato varieties with resistance to late blight disease, caused by the fungal pathogen Phytopthora infestans. This pathogen was responsible for many potato disease outbreaks around the world, including the Irish potato famine during the 1840s.During his research, Niederhauser discovered that the source of the pathogen responsible for the Irish potato famine came from Mexico. More importantly, he discovered many wild inedible potato species in Mexico that possessed a durable field resistance to the late blight fungus. He began breeding work using these resistant lines which resulted in a collection of commercially useful resistant potato varieties. These new varieties allowed subsistence farmers around the world to be able to grow potatoes for the first time with few or no chemical fungicide applications.Niederhauser's work resulted in the establishment of the potato as the fourth major food crop worldwide. As a result of this work, potato production in Mexico increased from 134,000 metric tons in 1948 to greater than 1 million metric tons by 1982. 

"Potato blight (or potato late blight) is caused by a mildewlike fungus called Phytophthora infestans that can infect the potato foliage and its tubers. Although P. infestans is best known as a pathogen of the potato, this fungus also attacks the tomato and a number of other plants belonging to the family Solanaceae …." 

from Potato Blight: An entry from Macmillan Reference USA's Macmillan Reference USA Science Library: Plant Sciences by John S. Niederhauser)

So... next time we're in SOHO...

Ho!

photo by Lauren Shockey

Travel advice from someone who knows...

her potatoes, 

"We stopped at a popular restaurant for a lunch of cepelinai -- shredded potatoes stuffed with meat, rolled into balls and then boiled -- and potato pancakes."

poodles,
and place in history.