Can you guess America's favorite
vegetable? Here's a hint:
we really like them fried, fried, and fried...
We more potatoes than any other
veg, yet it's really easy to forget when
you're munching on those chips, that
you're really eating fried slices of
plant root...well, not exactly, but we'll
get to that, because we're here at King's
Family Potato Farm, to find out: How Does It Grow?
One medium potato provides almost half
your daily value of vitamin C, and is
super rich in potassium.
Potatoes originated from the Andes.
Explorers brought them to Europe, where they fueled
the rise of populations across the
continent. And today potatoes are the
fourth most farmed crop on the planet.
Here in southern Pennsylvania, the Kings
have been growing potatoes since the 50s.
Conrad King took the reins from his 86
year old dad, who still helps out at
harvest time. The Kings grew potatoes
exclusively for chips, so we're going to
follow these spuds from farm to factory.
in spring, they plant potatoes specially
grown to use a seed, which are chopped
into pieces, containing at least one eye.
That's where the new plant sprouts.
Potatoes do produce true seed, inside
little green berries, that are the real
fruit of the potato plant. But if you
plant one of those seeds you're going to
get a new type of potato. To get the same
kind of potato, farmers plant the tuber itself.
So let's talk tuber. Potatoes grow
underground, but they're not roots
they're tubers. Roots suck up nutrients
from the soil; tubers store these nutrients. That's why potatoes are fat
and starchy. The farmer mounds the soil
high over the potatoes. If they're too
close to the surface during a dry spell,
the earth will crack and expose the
potatoes to sunlight. That's what turns
potatoes green and bitter. Sunlight
triggers the build-up of solanine,
a chemical that's deadly...
- if you eat like 60 potatoes in one sitting...So if you see
any green, just cut it off - you'll live.
When the plants flower in June, farmers
know the potatoes are beginning to grow.
Meanwhile, farmers keep a lookout for two
enemies: a fungus called late blight
which was the cause of Ireland's Great
Famine in the 1800s; and this little leaf
eating sucker - the Colorado potato beetle.
If they get out of hand,
they'll kill an entire crop in days.
As the leaves of the plant begin to brown,
the potato skins start to set and
thicken, Conrad harvests them before the
skins set, because at the chip factory,
they're going to be peeled straight away
but he's got to move quickly. Without
their toughened skin, the potatoes can
start rotting within 24 hours.
More than half the potatoes America eats are
processed, including chips like Herr's. Here at their factory,
potatoes from different farms are rarely
mixed before cooking.
That means the chips in your bag likely
came from a single farm, like Kings. First
the potatoes are peeled, then sliced.
Every inch of potato makes about 20
slices - each one just 50 thousandth of an
inch thick! Now they're ready for the
fryer. The chips cook for just a couple
minutes, and in a vat of 370 degree corn
oil; then they're scanned for spots - dark
chips are rejected by a gust of air with
pinpoint precision.
Finally, the chips are seasoned, and bagged with a spritz of
nitrogen that eliminates the oxygen to
preserve the chips. In 24 hours,
Herr's produces 1 million bags
Potatoes are 80% water, as they cook, that
moisture is released and replaced by
whatever cooking fat you're using. Oil,
butter, etc. Since chips are super thin
slices submerged in oil for over two
minutes, they lose almost all their
moisture. They're 2 percent water at the
end. On the other hand, boiled potatoes
retain almost all their moisture, but
they lose half of their potassium and
vitamin C. It leaches out into the water.
I have a recipe that's right in the
middle. These use just 2 tablespoons of
olive oil - a lot of that gets left in the
pan. The best part? You get to use one of these...
We're going to roast a batch of small potatoes
on a sheet pan, with olive oil, salt and
pepper. Half way through cooking, pull
them out, and smash them.
If you're working with kids, you might want to
transfer these to a cool pan. Now, you
don't want to break them apart; you just
want to smush out the insides. These are
the bits that are going to crisp up deliciously, when you put them back in
the oven. Continue roasting until they're
golden and tender. You get the crispness
of a french fry, with the creaminess of a baked potato.
Cooking with a side of stress relief - I think that's a perfect recipe - happy smashing!