Day 16: Potato Power

With a simple trick, the humble potato can be made into a battery.

Using small units comprised of a quarter-slice of potato sandwiched between a copper cathode and a zinc anode that's connected by a wire, agricultural science professor Haim Rabinowitch and his team wanted to prove that a system that can be used to provide rooms with LED-powered lighting for as long as 40 days.

At around one-tenth the cost of a typical AA battery, a potato could supply power for a cell phone and other personal electronics in poor, underdeveloped and remote regions without access to a power grid.

The research also found that by simply boiling the potatoes for eight minutes, it broke down the organic tissues inside the potatoes, reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons– thus producing more energy

But potato advocates must surmount another problem before their idea catches on: consumer perception of potatoes.

Compared with modern technologies like solar power, potatoes are perhaps less desirable as an energy source.

Advocates of potato power will no doubt continue to keep chipping away!

Today’s variety - Marys Rose (Early Maincrop)

A new variety developed by organic potato supplier Skea Organics

Oval to oblong tubers that have a uniform shape.

Pink skin and white flesh, high yielding with good taste, it holds its shape very well, great for boiling, mashing and roasting.

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.

More information at

http://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/potato-day-info

The text below is from the Nottingham Organic Gardeners’

“DUE TO LOCKDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT..

We are still definitely planning to bring potato day to you in some manner!

We have placed the order for the potatoes!

When we have them delivered and how we will get them to you will be planned soon!"

Day 15: The million Euro potato photograph

A celebrated photographer sold a picture of an Irish potato for a million Euros.

The photo, taken in 2010 is titled “Potato #345 (2010)” is by photographer Kevin Abosch, who charges huge fees to shoot portraits of famous business people in the Silicon Valley technology industry.

The sale came about when a wealthy buyer who collects Abosch’s work was visiting the photographer’s Paris home in 2015.

They saw the photo — a 162x162cm print mounted on aluminium composite sheeting (dibond) — hanging on the wall and inquired about purchasing it for their collection.

The price was non-negotiable: €1,000,000.

The buyer agreed to the price and purchased the photo, making it Abosch’s largest sale of a single image to date.

Abosch’s “iconic black backdrop” portraits have become a sort of status symbol among the elites of business and entertainment — the rich and famous pay over $150,000 for a photoshoot with Abosch.

The potato portrait sits alongside shots of Steven Spielberg, Michael Palin, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Malala Yousafzai in the sought-after photographer’s portfolio.

Today’s variety - Maris Piper (Maincrop)

An English variety introduced in 1964.

It was the first commercially successful eelworm-resistant variety.

One of Heston Blumenthal’s favourites for chips! Pleasant floury texture, good flavour.

High yields and many tubers per plant and stores well.

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.

More information at

http://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/potato-day-info

The text below is from the Nottingham Organic Gardeners’

“DUE TO LOCKDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT..

We are still definitely planning to bring potato day to you in some manner!

We have placed the order for the potatoes!

When we have them delivered and how we will get them to you will be planned soon!"

Day 14: Potato Photographer of the Year 2020

This one-off competition capturing the beauty of the potato was organised by the online community Photocrowd and judged by a panel of professional photographers.

All the entry fees went to support the work of The Trussel Trust, a food bank charity that aims to end hunger and poverty in the U.K.

Ten top images were announced with the overall winner being Ray Spence for a photograph of a potato getting a lockdown haircut.

Today’s variety - Marfona (Second early)

Introduced in the Netherlands in 1975

A short, oval-shaped potato with a smooth texture.

A great all-rounder in the kitchen, cooking qualities are excellent and the potatoes are full of flavour, it is very good for baking, boiling and mashing.

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.

More information at

http://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/potato-day-info

The text below is from the Nottingham Organic Gardeners’

“DUE TO LOCKDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT..

We are still definitely planning to bring potato day to you in some manner!

We have placed the order for the potatoes!

When we have them delivered and how we will get them to you will be planned soon!"

Day 13: Potato Flowers

Antoine-Augustin de Parmentier (1737-1813) pictured, was an early promoter of the potato in France, at a time when potatoes were looked upon with great suspicion considered then only as animal food.

As an eminent physician who wanted to introduce the potato into the French diet, he decided that the best way to break through the prejudice was to recruit the good offices of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.

If they made the potato fashionable, the rest of society would follow suit; and follow they did.

Parmentier finally got his lucky break when, on Louis XVI’s thirty-fifth birthday (August 23, 1785), Parmentier presented the king with a bouquet of potato flowers.

The king tucked one in his lapel, and his wife, Marie Antoinette, stuck a potato flower into her hair.

Suddenly potatoes became all the rage at court, and Parmentier oversaw a series of all-potato banquets.

Louis XVI immediately grasped the potato’s potential as a basic food that could make all the difference when wheat crops were jeopardised by disease or bad weather.

By the end of the 18th century, the potato was a firmly established and popular part of French cuisine.

Marie Antoinette probably never said “Let them eat cake” when she was told that poor French folk had no bread to eat.

But the French queen definitely thought they should eat potatoes, which, in the late 18th century, were hailed as a wonder food from the New World.

In 1785, famine struck northern France, but the poor were able to survive, thanks to the lowly potato.

The death of many by starvation had been avoided.

Today’s variety - Linda (Maincrop)

Linda is an old main crop variety from Germany which was saved from extinction and re-instated because the taste was so good.

Linda has an unusual oval shape with yellow waxy flesh

Good for gratins and oven bakes with a very good flavour.

Waxy becoming floury on storage.

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.

More information at

http://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/potato-day-info

The text below is from the Nottingham Organic Gardeners’

“DUE TO LOCKDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT..

We are still definitely planning to bring potato day to you in some manner!

We have placed the order for the potatoes!

When we have them delivered and how we will get them to you will be planned soon!"

Day 12: The Irish Potato Famine

The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger occurred between 1845-1849 when the potato crop failed in successive years.

The crop failures were caused by late blight, a disease that destroys the leaves and tubers of the potato plant.

The famine occured when the fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans spread rapidly throughout Ireland.

The infestation ruined up to one-half of the potato crop in 1845, and about three-quarters of the crop over the next seven years.

Because the tenant farmers of Ireland relied heavily on the potato as a source of food, the infestation had a catastrophic impact on Ireland and its population.

The famine was a watershed moment in the history of Ireland which was ruled directly by Westminster as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1801 to 1922.

The famine and its effects permanently changed the island's demographic, political, and cultural landscape, producing an estimated 2 million refugees and spurring a century-long population decline.

Before it ended in 1852, the Irish Potato Famine resulted in the death of roughly one million from starvation and related causes.

Today’s variety - Kingsman (Maincrop)

New to the market in 2017.

This early maincrop produces excellent yields and has good disease resistance.

The oval tubers have a pale-yellow colour and an excellent flavour.

The creamy floury flesh is perfect for making chips but is equally good roasted, baked and boiled – a wonderful all-rounder!

About my January Potato Journey

I am trying to build up my horticulture knowledge, all views are my own and are intended to be in a positive spirit.

I am a member of Nottingham Organic Gardeners (NOGs)

The daily posts are hoped to feature varieties which are likely to be part of Nottingham Organic Gardeners’ Potato Day and some fun potato trivia.

Also to be my celebration of the potato and Nottingham Organic Gardeners Potato Day.

More information at

http://nottinghamorganicgardeners.com/potato-day-info

The text below is from the Nottingham Organic Gardeners’

“DUE TO LOCKDOWN ANNOUNCEMENT..

We are still definitely planning to bring potato day to you in some manner!

We have placed the order for the potatoes!

When we have them delivered and how we will get them to you will be planned soon!"