Douglas Adams, the English author and humourist, said ‘it is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes’, and while that may be true in any one of his parallel universes, in this reality you can come pretty close – just imagine creamy mashed potato or crispy hash browns and suddenly your problems don’t seem so dire, do they? Our love of potato is a long-held love affair, and N1 include a wide variety in their wholesale frozen vegetables range – from the aforementioned mash and hash browns to delicious rostis, croquettes and surely the king of potato products, French fries.

But apart from knowing how much we love potatoes, have you ever wondered about the history of the humble tuber and how it found its way onto our farms and plates? For this and other interesting facts we turn to Potatoes USA, America’s leading potato marketing and research organisation:

• While the Inca Indians in Peru were the first to grow potatoes, from around 8000 BC to 5000 BC; it was only in 1536, when the Spanish invaded Peru, that the precious potato was ‘discovered’ and brought to Europe where it began to be cultivated along the Biscay coast of northern Spain.
   
• While Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589, it took nearly forty years for the vegetable to spread to other countries in Europe. It eventually did thanks to the fact that not only was it easier to grow than other crops, but it could also provide sustenance for more people on a smaller footprint than other foods.
   
• Potatoes arrived in America in 1621 as a gift for Virginia’s Governor, Francis Wyatt, sent from the Governor of Bermuda. Permanent potato fields were established in 1719 by Scotch-Irish immigrants and from there its popularity spread across the colonies.
   
• During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush between 1897 and 1898, potatoes were considered more valuable than gold thanks to their vitamin C content – gold was plentiful, nutritious food was not.
   
• Potato blight, a plant disease, spread through Europe in the 1840s and destroyed potato crops in many countries. The Irish were particularly hard hit as potatoes were their staple food – tragically, it is estimated that nearly one million people died during the famine and Ireland lost another million in immigration to Canada and the US.

Today, potatoes are the world’s fourth largest food crop, after rice, wheat and maize. A great source of vitamin C, potassium (more than a banana) and vitamin B6; as well as being fat, sodium and cholesterol free, it remains an excellent and nutritious food staple, not to mention delectable. So, for this and a myriad of other high-quality wholesale frozen vegetables, contact N1 today – leading supplier of all things spud and delicious.