Potato Literature & Growing Greens

Article: Top 10 Potato Books

Published this month, John Reader's The Untold History of the Potato charts the tuber's 15,000-year story from the US to China to Peru, Mrs Beeton to Charles Darwin to McDonald's. Here, he chooses his top 10 books on the not-so-humble spud.

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7. The Potato: Evolution, Biodiversity and Genetic Resources by JG Hawkes

Hawkes was a leading figure in 20th-century potato research whose memoir of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938-1939 ...

Song: The Potato Man (Canting Songs)

I

I am a saucy rolling blade,
I fear not wet nor dry,
I keep a jack ass for my trade,
And thro’ the streets do cry
Chorus. And they all rare potatoes be!
And they’re, etc.

II

A moll I keep that sells fine fruit,
There’s no one brings more cly;
She has all things the seasons suit,
While I my potatoes cry.
Chorus. And they all, etc.

Article: Sprouts and micro greens: Houseplants you can eat.

Sprouts are harvested younger than micro greens and can be grown without soil in closed surroundings like bags or jars under sprays of lukewarm water. They should be harvested before their secondary leaves emerge. Alfalfa, sunflower, cress, lentil and buckwheat seeds grow quickly into sprouts and can be served up roots and all.

Micro greens are the adolescent versions of the leafy greens, edible flowers and herbs that are popular salad fixings. They are at their nutritional and flavorful best when they begin to display adult-size leaves. Seeds can be planted in potting soils, sprinkled onto sponges or fine-textured fabrics, and then misted, sprayed or watered as necessary. Among the most popular micro greens are cauliflower, peas, cabbage, arugula, radishes, beets, clover, mustard and alfalfa.