Potato

Potato dishes have become indispensable in the daily diet for many reasons: the potatoes are easily grown, yield him great, he is represented in the diet throughout the year, reasonable prices, satisfying, it can be easily prepared in many different ways.

Description and Origin

Potatoes Serve as a main dish, for simple and complex salads, side dish of fish and meat in various additions to soups and vegetable stews.

Potato is an annual herbaceous plant and is one of the most common foods in the world. For irregularly cylindrical potato plant that develops on green aboveground parts bears white flowers. From them emerges poisoned fruit because it contains a lot of Solana. Underground stems and tubers of potatoes are not poisonous and are a food that enriches our diet.

There are more varieties of potatoes: early, middle and late, table - for human consumption, industrial, livestock and universal.

Potatoes were brought over by Spanish sailors from less than 400 years from the mountainous regions of Peru. The importance of potatoes in the diet of Indian tribes and their mythology was observed finding objects painted on potato late second century on the shores of Peru.

Potatoes are grown for centuries as decoration which appear during the Entertainment Kiti VIPs, and even kings. By the use of potatoes as food that was daily meals in mere was caused occasional poverty and hunger. Potato dishes have become indispensable in the daily diet for many reasons: the potatoes are easily grown, yield him great, he is represented in the diet throughout the year, reasonable prices, satisfying, it can be easily prepared in many different ways.

Salubrity

Potatoes in their composition contains substances that act on the great man's health and cure diseases caused by abnormal metabolism, such as gout and rheumatism. In folk medicine, the potatoes are used as auxiliary remedy for rheumatism, arthritis, headaches, fever, burns, frostbite, in the form of puree peeled, prijesnog potatoes.
When problems with the lining of the stomach using the juice of the potato. Potato juice is obtained so that the potatoes are peeled, finely grated and juice drained. Since it is not a very pleasant flavor, you can mix it with carrot juice or dilute it with water. This juice is rich in alkaline substances and binds uric acid and thus helps in gout, rheumatism and arthritis.
Bark boiled potatoes lowers high blood pressure. Burns can be treated compresses cold potatoes.

Energy and nutritive value

Potato is a good food to feed people of all ages - a valuable source of energy and carbohydrate (starch).

Energy value of potatoes is only 86 kcal per 100 g meal (boiled potatoes). In 100 grams of raw potato is 80.96% water, 0.14 g fat, 1.89 g protein, 15.90 g carbohydrate (13.35 g starch, 1 g sugar), 1.7 g fiber.

The same amount of potatoes in their composition has 2.5 times less carbs than bread, which makes it important in the diet of diabetics. Bread (40 grams) can replace 100 grams of potatoes.

Potato is a valuable source of vitamins and minerals: vitamin C, niacin, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, thiamine, folate, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, manganese and calcium.

* Excellent source of vitamin C (23% of the RDA per serving), vitamin B6 (25% of the RDA per serving), potassium (23% of the RDA per serving). A good source of niacin ** (16% of RDA per serving), folate (10% of RDA per serving), pantothenic acid (10% of the RDA per serving), thiamine (10% of RDA per serving), magnesium (11% of the RDA per serving), phosphorus (15% of the RDA per serving), manganese (13% of the RDA per serving).

During thermal processing of foods vitamin C is largely destroyed, while the potato loses only if cooked peeled and sliced. When the potatoes are cooked in a crust, preserved third of vitamin C, and baked in the crust loses it slightly. Vitamins and minerals are found in the skin of potatoes and immediately below it, and it can be just a thin layer of peel or ga neoguljenog cook and bake.

Depending on the time of maturation distinguish young and old potatoes. Young potatoes contain more sugar, vitamin C and water, and the old more starch.