Day 2 - Space Potatoes
Potatoes are credited as the first vegetable grown in space.
In 1995, a team of researchers clipped 10 leaves from a potato plant, nestled them into beds of moistened soil, and shot half of them into space on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Decades of research had already hinted that plants could, in fact, flourish outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
Within a couple weeks, the stems of the five cuttings that had remained here on Earth had swollen into golf ball-sized potatoes.
And, orbiting a few hundred miles off the surface of Earth, their weightless counterparts did the same.
The extra-terrestrial taters would eventually make their way back to Earth, where a battery of tests would reveal that the space tubers were normal.
In fact, as pictured they were nearly indistinguishable from their grounded tubers in most respects.
Today’s variety - Aura (Second early):
A French variety dating back to the 1950s.
Renowned for the wonderful flavour and firm cooking characteristics.
They have an interesting and eye-catching half-moon shape.
Long shaped, pale yellow skin, yellow flesh tubers with perfect cooking characteristics.
Ideal for roasting, chipping, boiling and steaming.
It has a high resistance to common scab.
