This Spud's for You!

"I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them, but never the potatoes that went with them."Nora Ephron, Heartburn
This Spud's for You! Isn’t it interesting that some of our favorite foods can kill us if we're not careful with them? The potato is one of those vegetables that come to us from the nightshade family that gives us the eggplant, the tomato. The leaves are poisonous and if left too long in the light, the skin greens and produces solanine, which can be harmful to some people.
Fortunately for us, people who couldn’t really pick and choose what they would eat found that animals native to the Peruvian Andes found the tubers of these plants were edible and followed them to the source over 7000 years ago. Spanish Conquistadors brought them to the Old World in the 16th century; initially, the patata was condemned, but it began to achieve some popularity because its vitals grew underground and were less likely to be reaped by foragers in times of war or pestilence.
Speaking of warriors, legend has it that Sir Walter Raleigh did much to popularize the tater everywhere he went: England, Ireland, and Roanoke. By the time he’d lost his head over his controversial politics, much of Europe had fallen head over heels for the pomme de terre garnering much of the acreage formerly afforded to wheat.
Potatoes are now hitting the market in many colors - white, brown, yellow, pink, red and purple, and shapes – from petite fingerling to new round to football-sized russets. Enjoy them any way you like: boiled, mashed, baked, in salads, roasted or fried!
"It’s easy to halve the potato where there is love." Irish Proverb