celebrate POTATO DAY today

Yep…it's potato day today.

 

 

Jonas Alströmer planted the first potato in Sweden in 1723

He planted it in Alingsås which now has an international potato academy, "Academia Solanum Tuberosum"

via

"In The 18th century, Linnaeus, had counselled against the introduction of the potato into Sweden as food, because of its potential toxicity, later confirmed when the neurotoxicity of solanene in green potatoes was appreciated. Linnaeus's concern proved correct in another way as with the introduction of the potato, the Swedish population exploded. Farms were able to produce many more calories of food per hectare than had previously been the case and so larger families could initially be accommodated on the same farm. But balance between population and food production was not achieved and, during the latter part of the 19th century, one quarter of the Swedish population, one million out of four million emigrated, principally to North America."                          via