If you like your spuds, National Tater Day on March 31st is for you! The day recognizes all kinds of potatoes which provide us with essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Potatoes are quite versatile, which might explain why so many people like them. They are the number one consumed vegetable in the United States. And when you consider how many ways we can eat the over 200 different kinds of potatoes in the United States, you shouldn't be surprised.
First off, we can bake them. Who doesn't like a baked potato? Yeah, we see you in back. Put your hand down. The rest of us absolutely love the baked spud. Plus those baked potatoes? You can bake them twice with all sorts of delicious toppings. Twice! Secondly, we can boil them. And from the boiled potatoes we can make soups, salads, or make one of the world's all-time favorite potato dishes - mashed potatoes. And did you know, mashed potatoes have numerous different recipes, too? You can't have shepherd's pie without mashed potatoes. Dice them and slice them and we can make scalloped, fried, or even hashbrowns. And then, there's potato dumplings and pancakes.
Beyond all the ways we use potatoes, this day may have originally had a different meaning. At the beginning of April, parts of Kentucky celebrated the sweet potato (Tater Day). Sweet potatoes are one of the main cash crops in that area. Tater Day started way back in the early 1840s with the trading and selling of sweet potatoes. It is the oldest continuous trade day in the United States.
Worldwide, there are more than four thousand potato varieties.
Since the time potatoes were shipped from Europe to the colonies in the early 17th century, their consumption has been a major part of the North American diet.
How do you like your potatoes? Fried, mashed, baked?
