Answers to the Potato Quiz

A1.  False – potatoes originated in Peru.  They’ve been cultivated there for about 6,000 years.

A2.  True – Conquistadors brought them back to the King of Spain in 1536.

A3.  True - Most of us don’t think of potatoes when we think of Chinese food, but the vegetable is well established in China, and India isn’t far behind. Together, the two countries grow 1/3 of the world’s potatoes, though per capita harvest is still highest in Europe. As a general trend, potatoe production is going down in wealthier countries & rising in poorer countries.

A4.  False – They are no more related than potatoes, called pommes de terre in French, are to apples (pommes)

A5.  False – More than ½ the vitamins are in the flesh.  Most of the fibre, however, is in the skin, which is an argument for eating it.  On the other hand, the greatest concentration of glycoalkaliods – the toxin found in the leaves of the plant – is just underneath the skin. Any commercially grown potatoe should have low levels of glycoalkaliods to make their presence insignificant.  But if you prefer you potatoes peeled, it’s a good argument.

A6.  True – planting seed potatoes is a form of tissue culture.  For the uninitiated, ‘seed potato’ are simply potatoes! One cuts them into chunks, reach with 2-3 eyes, & plants the chunks.

A7.  False – while carrots just get sweeter the longer you leave them in the ground, potatoes do not react well to freezing.  It ruins the texture, softens them & leads to early rot.

A8.  False – The sprouts from stored potatoes, if planted, would grow into the above ground part of the plant.  Roots would grow, underground, from the green top.  The purpose of the potatoe, as far as the plant is concerned, is to store energy over the winter to grow new plants the following spring.

A9.  False – As stated in answer 8, the tuber is a storage organ.  It does not take up water from the soil.  It is, is fact, an enlarged stolon, which is a modified stem. Stolen are sometimes referred to as ‘underground runners’.