Potatoes are one of the twenty most common vegetables, with many types and wide planting areas. Potatoes can be divided into four categories based on their use: baking potatoes, boiling potatoes, general purpose potatoes and "new" potatoes. "]
1. Baking potatoes:
This is a potato specially cultivated for baking quality. It is most suitable for baking, making mashed potatoes, and frying potato chips!
Baked potatoes have a higher starch content, which is amylose; the texture is dry and powdery, lighter and fluffy after baking, and lighter, smoother and creamier after mashed, which is actually The only type of potato worthy of making potato chips = .
Baking potatoes are generally long in appearance, with a rough, cork-like appearance, and are commonly sold in bags in North America. The largest and most famous baked potato is called Russet Burbank. Others include: Russet Arcadia, Norgold Russet, Goldrush, Norkotah, Long White (or White Rose or California Long White), and Idaho.
2. Boiled potatoes:
Boiled potatoes are also called waxy potatoes. They come in different shapes, with thin and smooth skin and a waxy texture.
Boiled potatoes contain moisture and sugar. It has a higher portion, but a lower starch content, and it is amylopectin structure that makes this potato more sticky and can still form lumps when boiled, so it is suitable for making soup. It is also ideal for cooking casseroles, potato salads, barbecues, etc. Of course, it can also be mashed to make mashed potatoes, but the boiled ones seen on the market will be thicker and have lumps. Potatoes include: Round White, Round Red, Yellow Potato, Red Potato, Salad Potato, La Soda, Red La Rouge, Red Pontiac, Red Nordland, Red Bliss, Yellow Finnish, Ruby Crescent, and Australian Crescent, etc. p
3. General-purpose potatoes:
General-purpose potatoes are between the first two. This is the most common potato on the market. There are long and round ones, and they are available all year round. All in.
General-purpose potatoes have a higher moisture content than baked potatoes and can still form chunks when boiled. As the name suggests, general-purpose potatoes can be used for boiling, frying, baking, making casseroles, making soups, and more. . They can also be used for baking, making mashed potatoes, and frying, but the effect is not as good as baking potatoes
Common all-purpose potatoes include: Yukon Gold, Peruvian Blue, Superior, Kennebec, and Katahdin.
4. New potatoes
New potatoes do not refer to freshly dug potatoes, but to potatoes that are not fully mature and relatively small. They are usually harvested before the skins of the potatoes are mature. . Because they are not yet mature, new potatoes often lose their skin or the thin skin becomes warped during processing. Many types of potatoes have new potatoes, especially red potatoes. Most new potatoes are on the market from January to September and are most suitable for boiling
When purchasing potatoes, you should choose potatoes that are clean, smooth, firm, and have no large wounds, cracks, peeling, or rot. A small amount of peeling is normal for "new potatoes". The uniformity of potatoes sometimes needs to be considered, which is very important when whole potatoes are boiled or baked. Don’t buy potatoes that have peeled too much, are dull in color, wrinkled, weak, have green skin, have many nodules, and have a musty smell
In addition, red potatoes have more water and less starch, so they are suitable for boiling and are easy to cook. . Fresh potatoes cook more quickly than potatoes that have been stored for a long time.
When making mashed potatoes, use freshly boiled potatoes, warm milk/cream, freshly hot butter, salt and pepper
Another: Northern Chinese love pasta, so there are many types of pasta. , the cakes alone include scallion pancakes, meat pancakes, egg pancakes, egg-filled pancakes, sesame paste pancakes, etc. In the UK, there are as many as 20 or 30 types of potatoes. The ones as small as two centimeters in diameter and as large as twenty centimeters in diameter are available in red, purple, white, and yellowish brown. Each type of potato has its own name, like Jersey Royals, King Edwards, Anya. For me, there are only two types of Chinese potatoes, one is the fresh small potatoes in spring, and the other is the old yellow-brown potatoes that are available all year round. The former is boiled or roasted, tender and slightly sweet, and very fresh, while the latter is used in various stir-fries.
In the UK, potatoes are like our noodles and rice, eaten for lunch and dinner. Can be paired with steak, chicken, fish, and pork. Wide range of applications. Naturally, there are so many ways to cook potatoes that there is enough to fill a cookbook.
British people like to eat Jacket potato for lunch. This is the easiest way to make potatoes. Select large potatoes, wash and dry them, and bake in the oven for 1-2 hours. When eating, cut the potatoes into pieces and add butter, cheese, corn kernels, etc. according to your preference.
Another popular way to eat it is called Dauphinois. This way of eating comes from France. The production process is relatively complicated. Peel and slice the potatoes into thin slices and boil them in hot milk for one minute. Put butter and potato slices in a baking pan, add salt, pepper, and minced garlic, place them in 3-4 layers, pour milk into the baking pan, and bake in the oven for half an hour. It sounds like this dish looks like Chinese puff pastry.
Chinese people usually start cooking with eggs and tomatoes, which is easy to learn, delicious and beautiful. New cooks in the UK start by cooking potatoes. Interestingly, a few potatoes can last three days. On the first day, roast some potatoes, which are Jacket potatoes, and on the second day, use the remaining potatoes to make Mash potatoes, which is mashed potatoes. Put unfinished mashed potatoes in the refrigerator. On the third day, make Croquet, using hard mashed potatoes and roll them into a long cylinder shape, similar to a miniature rolling pin. Coat in bread crumbs and fry until golden brown. This method is also highly praised by housewives who are busy at work. It saves trouble and is popular, and they will never tire of it.
What about Chinese housewives? If it's easier, don't make rice stir-fries. You can buy some steamed buns, frozen dumplings, noodles, and meatballs on the way after get off work to finish your dinner. Convenient and fast food is popular in every country.
Potato has another usage in English: couch potato, which is what we often call couch potato. People who sit on the sofa all day, eating snacks and watching TV, and are too lazy to move are couch potatoes.
Potato nutrition:
Potato is a vegetable that can be used as both grain and vegetable. Its scientific name is potato. Together with rice, wheat, corn, and sorghum, it is known as the five major crops in the world. In France, potatoes are called "underground apples." Potatoes are full of nutrients and are easily digested and absorbed by the human body. They are known as the "second bread" in Europe and the United States. Potatoes are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and minerals, with a high-quality starch content of about 16.5%. They also contain a large amount of lignin, etc., and are known as the "second bread" of mankind. It contains twice as much vitamins as carrots, three times as much as Chinese cabbage, and four times as much as tomatoes. Its vitamin C content is the highest among vegetables. Experts have discovered that in the famous longevity towns of the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Ecuador and other countries, people’s staple food is potatoes.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that potatoes are "flat in nature, sweet in taste, and non-toxic. They can strengthen the spleen and stomach, replenish qi and regulate the balance, relieve pain and relieve pain, and facilitate defecation. They are good for weak spleen and stomach, indigestion, gastrointestinal disharmony, and epigastric pain." , patients with difficulty defecating have remarkable results.” Modern research has proven that potatoes have special effects on mediating indigestion and are a good medicine and high-quality health care product for patients with stomach problems and heart disease.
Potato starch is absorbed slowly in the human body and is an ideal dietary vegetable for diabetic patients. Potatoes contain a large amount of high-quality fiber, which can provide a large amount of nutrients to intestinal microorganisms in the intestines and promote the growth and development of intestinal microorganisms; it can also promote the growth and development of intestinal microorganisms. Peristalsis, maintaining intestinal moisture, preventing constipation and cancer; Potassium content in potatoes is extremely high. Eating five or six potatoes a week can reduce the chance of stroke by 40%, and is particularly effective in mediating indigestion; It also has the effect of preventing and treating neurological alopecia. Repeatedly applying fresh potato slices to the hair loss area has a significant effect on promoting hair regeneration.
Although he was not taken seriously for a long time, Potato's mentality always seemed to be very stable, so low-key that he wished he could stay buried in the soil. Its fruits grow underground and do not stretch into the sky like ears of wheat; its price is very cheap and has never fluctuated; its taste seems to be very monotonous, and it has long been regarded as a vegetable for the poor. Even the famous painter Van Gogh in his oil paintings What is depicted in "The Potato Eaters" is still a scene of a poor family eating potatoes sadly. Nowadays, human beings' impression of it has completely changed, and they believe that it is almost full of treasures. A recent United Nations survey shows that by 2100, the world's population will increase to 10.5 billion, which may lead to a food crisis. Some scientists believe that by that time, the potato that is most likely to help mankind survive the crisis is the humble potato that we see every day.
The Myth of the “Super Vegetable”
Potatoes can be fried, stir-fried, cooked, fried, roasted, boiled, stewed, and grilled to create dozens of delicious dishes. Can be "strengthened" and "expanded". Since the 1950s, potato fast food has become popular all over the world. The delicious potato chips and fries are loved by men, women, old and young. At present, many countries in the world have listed potatoes as staple foods, and also use them to make snacks and other snacks.