Vegetable: Potato

Recipes:
Shitake Mushroom and Potato Bake
Bubble and Squeak Rösti
Cauliflower cheese and mustard soup
Celeriac Mash
Irish Stew
Mashed swede
Potato and Fennel Soup
Potato, Garlic and Parsley Soup
Potato and Parsnip Bake
Red Pepper, Olive and Potato Stew
Root Vegetable Gratin
Slow Fried Potatoes with Thyme and Taleggio Cheese
Vegetable Tortilla
Vichyssoise

Type: Surprisingly, the potato belongs to the Solanaceae or nightshade family whose other members include tomatoes, aubergines and peppers. There are 100s of varieties, varying in size, starch content, shape and flavour.

Vitamin and mineral content: A very good source of vitamin C, and a good source of B6, and minerals including copper, potassium, manganese, tryptophan and dietary fibre.

Reputedly good for: When not deep fried or oozing with butter, a potato's vitamin B6 content is an important cell builder, good at protecting the nervous system and for mild digestive problems. As a good carb, it's also packed with easily accessible energy-giving properties. Their vitamin C content has long been recognised as significant - at the time of their 'discovery' in the Americas in the 16th century, Spanish fleets fed them to crews to alleviate scurvy.

Availability: The best potato crops are harvested in early autumn (although new potatoes are dug in early summer), and in the right conditions, they can be stored for months. In the wrong conditions, they will sprout and discolour.

Storage: New potatoes don't keep for long because their skin is thin and delicate. Generally, all potatoes are best kept in cool, dark conditions to avoid sprouting. Green bits and sprouts need to be generously removed.

Preparation: As the skin is a concentrated source of dietary fibre, you'll get the most from your spud if you eat that as well. Basically, the deeper you peel, the more nutrients you throw in your compost bin.

Origins: Potatoes have been cultivated in South America for some 9000 years, but were officially 'discovered' by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. Despite this early introduction, Europeans were not generally impressed (perhaps because of their relation to the Nightshade family) in these early years, and it wasn't until the 19th century that they were grown in significant numbers across Europe.

The potato takes centre stage, in one of our less than glorious periods in history, during the Irish potato famines of 1845 and 1846, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, mass migration, mostly to the United States, and social and economic freefall.