Potato

“ Then he went on cutting the eyes out of the potatoes, while the children watched him. They saw that each potato chunk had in it two or three of the queer dimple-spots.
"A potato is not like other things that grow in the garden," said Uncle Pennywait. "It does not have its seeds separate from it, as beans have theirs in a pod, or as corn has its kernels or seeds on a cob, or a pumpkin or apple has seeds inside it. A potato's seeds are part of itself, buried in the white part that we cook for the table, and each potato has in it many seeds or eyes. ”

“ Since her adventure at the Susan house, Grandma Padgett had taken care to put provisions in the carriage pockets. Then aunt Corinne, assisted by her nephew, got potatoes from the sack, wrapped them in wet wads of paper, and roasted them in the ashes. A potato so roasted may be served up with a scorched and hardened shell, but its heart is perfumed by all the odors of the woods. It tastes better than any other potato, and while the butter melts through it you wonder that people do not fire whole fields and bake the crop in hot earth before digging it, to store for winter. ”

“ SWEET-POTATO PIE OR PUDDING.
One pound of hot, boiled sweet potato rubbed through a sieve; one cup of butter; one heaping cup of sugar; half a grated nutmeg; one glass of brandy; a pinch of salt; six eggs.
Add the sugar, spice, and butter to the hot potato. Beat whites and yolks separately, and add, and last the brandy. Line deep plates with nice paste, making a rim of puff paste. Fill with the mixture, and bake till the crust is done,—about half an hour. Wickedly rich, but very delicious. Irish potatoes can be treated in the same way, and are more delicate. ”

“ The most usual modes of preparing the potato for the table are by roasting or boiling. These processes are so simple that it is commonly supposed every cook understands them without special directions, and yet there is scarcely an uninstructed cook who can boil or roast a potato.
A good roasted potato is a delicacy worth a dozen compositions of the cook-book; yet when we ask for it, what burnt, shriveled abortions are presented to us! Biddy rushes to her potato-basket and pours out two dozen of different sizes, some having in them three times the amount of matter of others. ”

“ The potato contains a trace of sugar and notable quantities of other carbohydrates than starch and sugar, namely, fiber. It also contains a very small proportion of nitrogen and mineral matter.
The potato is grown chiefly in temperate climates. It flourishes particularly well in the northern part of Europe, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and in the northern portion of the United States. The northern part of Maine, especially, is noted for the production of potatoes of high edible qualities. It grows very well also in the southern part of the United States. ”

“ Steamed potatoes probably lose less of their potash juices than when boiled; but this is uncertain, as the modicum of distilled water condensed upon the potato and continually renewed may wash away as much as the larger quantity of hard water in which the boiled potato is immersed.
Those who eat an abundance of fruit, of raw salads, and other vegetables supplying a sufficiency of potash to the blood, may peel and boil their potatoes; but the poor Irish peasant, who depends upon the potato for all his sustenance, requires that they shall supply him with potash. ”

“ Often it is served in a deep dish, which is another mistake; for the potato, when light and white, is tempting enough to serve on a flat dish where it may be seen. Potatoes that are to be served in this way should be mashed the moment they are cooked, and not set aside for a more convenient time. They may then be moistened with milk or cream and be seasoned with butter, pepper, and salt, in measure to the richness desired, and whipped until, like the whites of eggs, they become white and spongy from the air imprisoned in the cells. Mashed potato may be served in a great variety of ways. ”

“ The potato can be satisfactorily used in more ways than any other edible root,—in bread, pastry, starch, puddings, pies, and salad; boiled, baked, roasted, stewed, fried. It is said “they furnish flour without a mill, and bread without an oven.”
After potatoes are taken from the ground, and have been exposed to the sun and air long enough to dry, the sooner they are placed in a cool, dry cellar the better they will keep. ”

“ The mellowing effect of the potato harvest upon the hearts of the people is manifest. Yesterday was a rainy day and the women kept straggling up here in squads all day. Each one brought a basket of potatoes on her head, from a peck to half a bushel, as a present to me. Uncle Sam and Joe are making a cone of them in the yard. Many of the children bring ground-nuts, of which I now have half a bushel. They have raised a good crop of them this year, and we amuse ourselves evenings by roasting them in the ashes of our open fire and munching them at leisure. ”

“ Potato, Border of.—A very pretty dish can be made by making a border of mashed potatoes, hollow in the centre, in which can be placed various kinds of other vegetables, such as haricot beans, stewed peas, &c. The mashed potato should be mixed with one or two well-beaten-up eggs, and the outside of the border can be moulded by hand, to make it look smooth and neat; a piece of flexible tin, flat, will be found very useful, or even a piece of cardboard. ”

“ These are buds, with scale leaves. Leaves never occur on roots, so that the potato must be an underground stem. Put a pin into every eye, and wind a thread round the tuber along the bases of the pins. It forms a spiral. Cut the potato into halves, and pour a drop of iodine solution on the cut surface. What is the meaning of the blue dots which at once make their appearance? Plant a potato in warm, moist earth, and when it has sprouted notice that each bud (eye) has given rise to a branch. ”

“ What would you think of the potato puff Norah makes out of left-over mashed potato?"
"Just the thing. I wouldn't have to boil the potatoes and peel them and mash them. Left-overs are always so convenient!"
"Then we must be sure to have mashed potato for dinner the night before the party, or there won't be any left over," said Mrs. Blair, laughing. "Now, write down this receipt; [Pg 198] only remember I am making it small for you; for the family you must take two cups or more of potato, and one egg."
POTATO PUFF
Mix the potato with the milk and salt and heat it, beating it well. ”

“ Just at the moment when potatoes are done they should be immediately taken from the fire and served at once. The potato is capable of being made into a variety of dishes, and when properly prepared has a delicate flavor which is very acceptable to most people. It is one of the most easily digested forms of starch-containing food. ”

“ Potato:—Bovee is a good early garden sort, but without the best of culture is very small. Irish Cobbler is a good early white. Green Mountain is a universal favorite for main crop in the East—a sure yielder and heavy-crop potato of excellent quality. Uncle Sam is the best quality potato I ever grew. Baked, they taste almost as rich as chestnuts. ”

“ I think I shall be able to adduce some strong facts in support of my opinion, that by a greatly extended culture of the potato for the purpose of supplying the markets with vegetable food, a more abundant and more wholesome supply of food for the use of the [pg 127] labouring classes of society may be obtained, than wheat can ever afford, and, I believe, of a more palatable kind to the greater number of persons. I can just recollect the time when the potato was unknown to the peasantry of Herefordshire, whose gardens were then almost exclusively occupied by different varieties of the cabbage. ”

“ Greasing [pg 260] the potato well before baking prevents a hard crust from forming and permits the entire contents of the mealy sack to be eaten. Boiling potatoes in their jackets causes the potato to lose about 2 per cent. of its nutritive value, while peeling before cooking causes a loss of 14 per cent. If necessary to peel, use a sharp knife and removed the very thinnest portion of the skin; scraping new potatoes is better than peeling them.
O'BRIEN POTATOES
Pare and then cut in thin slices five potatoes that have been boiled in their jackets. ”

“ Next to wheat no plant in our part of the world is of so much importance for food as the potato. Its use was not introduced into this country until toward the end of the eighteenth century. The first appearance of the potato among our people is a curious piece of history. ”

“ When forming part of a mixed diet, no substance is more wholesome than the potato. Even the wild potato found in the Yellowstone Country is thought one of the best of edible wild roots.
Boiled Potatoes.—To retain the highest amount of nourishment, potatoes should be boiled with their skins on. When so treated, they are twice as rich in potassa salts as those which have first been peeled. It is a good plan to place them in the oven or on top of the range after boiling them, thereby allowing all surplus moisture to escape. ”

“ SINCE the publication of my last paper, I have been told, by a lady to whom the readers of "Knowledge" are much indebted, that in the fatherland of potatoes, as well as in their adopted country, they are always boiled or steamed in their jackets; that American cooks, like those of Ireland, would consider it an outrage to cut off the protecting skin of the potato before cooking it ”

“ Fig. 42.—Shaking Table for Separating the Starch From the Pulped Potato.— (Courtesy Department of Agriculture.)
Use of the Potato in the Manufacture of Spirits. —A much more important technical use of the potato is in the manufacture of distilled spirits. Distilled spirits made from the potato are not generally used for potable purposes but are devoted to industrial uses. In the United States, very little if any distilled spirits are made from the potato. In Europe, however, especially in Germany, the industry is one of great magnitude. ”

“ But, though my sunflowers and my tomato vines suffered as I have narrated, my potatoes were doing finely. The potato patch is located in the back yard, near the poplar trees; it is in the shape of the Big Dipper, and I took the precaution to plant the potatoes in the new of the moon. The first planting never amounted to anything, for the reason that I peeled them and cut out the eyes before putting them in their hills. I learned subsequently that this was as fatal a course as it were possible to pursue. You must never peel potatoes or cut out their eyes if you want them to grow. ”

“ Next to wheat flour, potatoes are our most common form of starch food. The potato is a tuber, a native of America, and may be said to have been discovered to the civilized world by the Spaniards, who found it growing in Chili and Peru. ”

“ I never saw such a thing as potato-scraping for making a fellow in a mess. It seemed difficult to believe that the potato-scrapings in which Harris and I stood, half smothered, could have come off four potatoes. It shows you what can be done with economy and care.
George said it was absurd to have only four potatoes in an Irish stew, so we washed half-a-dozen or so more, and put them in without peeling. We also put in a cabbage and about half a peck of peas. ”

“ No. 23—POTATO DUMPLINGS FROM BOILED POTATOES.
Quantity for 6 Persons.
31⁄2 lbs. of boiled potatoes 11⁄2 cups of roll crumbs 1⁄2 roll cut into cubes 1⁄8 lb. of butter 3–4 eggs 1⁄2 tsp. of onion 1 pinch of pepper 1 heaping tbsp. of salt 1⁄2 cup of flour Salt water Preparation: The potatoes are boiled, peeled and grated when they are cooled off or mashed while still hot. When cold, the mashed potatoes are mixed well with roll crumbs, eggs, onion, pepper, salt, the 1⁄8 lb. of melted butter and the flour. The roll cubes are fried in butter crisp and yellow. ”

“ The sensible cook keeps all left-over potato, and makes use of it in some of the ways here described.
Potato Croquettes (Hot)
Take 1 lb. of cold cooked potato and place in a mortar. Mash it until all the lumps have disappeared, add a pat of butter and enough milk or cream to make the potato soft, and of the right consistency to form into balls, add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a very small [25] quantity of chives (if liked) , mix well and form into balls. Coat them with egg, roll them in finely-grated breadcrumbs, fry a golden brown, drain and serve. ”

“ You can employ a potato for almost anything. It comes in very handy for the manufacture of starch, sugar, Irish stew, Scotch whisky, and Colorado beetles. Cut it in half, and with one half you restore an old master, and with the other drive the cat from the back garden. More deadly battles have been waged over the proper way to cook a potato, than over a parish boundary, or an Irish eviction. Strong-headed men hurl the [Pg 112] spud high in air, and receive and fracture it on their frontal bones ”

“ Served with a boiled potato it makes a savoury enough dish, though I think, perhaps, it needs an acquired taste on behalf of the town dwellers to enjoy it thoroughly.
Most of the fishermen have their plot of land, and in their intervals of enforced leisure are assiduous gardeners, cultivating generally sufficient potatoes to last the winter. ”

“ Their universal sustenance is the root named Potato, cooked by fire alone; and generally without condiment or relish of any kind, save an unknown condiment named Point, into the meaning of which I have vainly inquired; the victual Potatoes-and-Point not appearing, at least not with specific accuracy of description, in any European Cookery-Book whatever. For drink, they use, with an almost epigrammatic counterpoise of taste, Milk, which is the mildest of liquors, and Potheen, which is the fiercest. ”