National Tater Tot Day

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February 2nd is National Tater Tot Day in the United States.

First, what is a tater tot? If you live outside the U.S., you may not be familiar with the name. It can be accurately guessed that they do describe something made with potato. Tater tots is actually a trademark of Ore-Ida, but it is a term that is often used as a generic.

Tater tots are made from grated and deep-fried potato. They were first created in 1956 when the company's founders were trying to work out what to do with leftover slivers of potato. Tater tots are usually served as a side dish, and have other ingredients added to the potato, namely flour and seasoning. More recently, variants made from vegetables that are considered to be more nutritious have been made, although deep frying anything does tend to reduce the nutritional value.

National Potato Month

September is National Potato Month in the United States.

This is an entire month devoted to the celebration of the not-so-humble potato, a tuber chock full of many different nutrients.

Potatoes are very flexible and there are so many ways of preparing them that it is quite possible to have them made a different way every single day of the month.

This is only a handful of different ways in which the potato can be prepared:

Baked - Also known as jacket potatoes, the potatoes are baked in an oven with their skin on, often wrapped in foil. After cooking, the potatoes are often split open and filled, perhaps only with butter, but the wide range of possible fillings means that it's possible to have a different baked potato every day of the month.

French Fried - Cut into fries or chips and then fried in oil.

Mashed - The potatoes are peeled, boiled and then mashed with milk.

Pancakes - These can be made with potatoes.

Potato Salad - Peeled or unpeeled potatoes are boiled, sliced into pieces - or used whole if they are small enough - and mixed with a dressing made with such as mayonnaise or salad cream.

Roasted - The potatoes are cut into pieces, covered in fat, such as goose fat, and then roasted in an oven.

Scalloped - A variety of different dishes with sliced, boiled potatoes placed in a dish, often sprinkled with grated cheese, and browned under a grill.

There are many more ways of using potatoes.

National Potato Day

August 19th is National Potato Day in the United States.

The humble potato. An edible tuber - the part that is eaten, rather than the plant itself - that grows underground and has been domesticated for over 7,000 years in the Americas, originating in southern Peru and north-western Bolivia in South America. Following the Spanish conquest of much of the Americas, they introduced the potato to Europe in the 16th century and it has since spread across the world. Either Sir Francis Drake or an employee of Sir Walter Raleigh is credited with introducing the potato into England. In the US, they are sometimes referred to as Irish or white potatoes to differentiate them from the sweet potato.

Potatoes have since become an important element in the global food supply, both for humans and for animals. They were so important in the 19th century in Ireland that when the crop was devastated by the potato blight disease, the loss of this staple crop contributed to the roughly one million deaths that occurred during the famine.

Potatoes can be cooked many different ways. Some examples are mashed, baked, roast, French-fried and scalloped, as well as being used in other dishes as an ingredient such as potato salad or the potato omelette. As a snack, they are used in the potato chip, or crisp. They even cook well in a microwave.