The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1931-11-20
Potatoes Offer Variety
of Appetizing Dishes
(From Co. Agent HART

tfTOm TO- agent f1dIt)
Don't stop with baked, boiled
or fried potatoes. Serve them IL
other ways, the Bureau of Home
Economics suggests to the home
makers of the country. Potatoes
probably are served more frequent
ly than any other vegetable, so in
stead of being treated with little
consideration, they deserve special
attention, the bureaus experts in
food preparation say.
1.-The potato has every good rea-
son for holding the enviable posi-
ton it Does" said DR.. Florence B.
King, chief of the Food Utilization
Division of the Bureau. at is a
good and satisfying food with a
flavor tina. is midway between del
icate and strong. The flavor is
pronounced enough to permit of
serving the potato without addi-
ton of any outside f%lavoring, aside
from seasoning, and yet it is not
so decided as to cause anyone to
dislike this inexpensive vegetable,
all of which make potatoes valu-
able in the low cost dietary.
From the standpoint of food
value potatoes have much to Of
fer-vitamines, mineral salts, and
energy giving materials. Their
mineral salts supply the necessary
alkaline substances in the diet to
balance the acid-forming substanc-
es of meat, cereals, and eggs. And
not the least of all, is the energy
giving value potatoes possess"
Many persons designate the pa
tato as the Irish potato" which
would seem to indicate its origin
in the Emerald Isle. Quite to the
contrary the potato is native to
the western plateau of South
America. The invading Spaniards
took the tuber back to Spain
whence it gradually vas introduce
ed to the world, until now it is
one of the vegetables most univer-
sally grown. Not until the last
century and a half, however, has
it been so important. Prejudice
against a new food together with
the first ways of cooking it re
tarded its adoption in the diet.
Roast potatoes STEPPED in wine,
baked with marrow and spices
or sweet preserves limited its use
for a long time.
One outstanding fact to the po-
tato's credit, after it achieved its
notable position in agriculture, is
that with n exception it prevent
ed the terrible periodic famines
Of former ages in Europe. In
times of stress, particularly, the
potato has come to lead in the
diet. Since Ireland has used them
so generously, the misnomer Irish
potatoes" might easily be explain
ed by the Irish preference for
them in plenty and in need. 1t
is an old Irish custom to give a
bowl of boiled potatoes to all who
stop ank ask for food-much as a
is offered here in the
United States.
The name potato is also misap-
piled to other vegetables as in the
case of the Canadian potato which
is not a potato at all, but the Jer-
usalem artichoke, the tuber of a
species of sunflower native to
North America. Similarly a Chin
csc potato is a yam.
Germany is a great potato grow
ing country, in fact the greatest
of all, but oddly enough other foods
are more readily associated with
the Germans than are potatoes.
This year the potato crop in the
United States is estimated at 371,-
900, 900 bushels, practically all of
which will be used for food. Ger
many converts much of her crop
into starch and alcohol.
One can not always tell a good
potato by the outside appearance,
Doctor King points out. One which