December 3: The potato was introduced to England

In 1586 Sir Thomas Herriot and Sir Francis Drake introduced the potato to England. It is known that widespread planting of potatoes started as early as the 11^th century by the Tiahuanaco civilization (Peruvian Andes). 10 facts about potatoes:

1. The English word potato comes from the Spanish word for them, patata. The slang word, "spud" originated in the 16th century and is thought to refer to the digging required to plant and harvest them, and to come from the same root as the word "spade."
2. The flowers of the potato plant are white, Pink, red, blue, or purple flowers with Yellow stamens - quite pretty, in fact. So much so that Marie Antoinette used to wear potato blossoms in her hair and they were fashionable in the French court.
3. As well as the tubers that we eat, potato plants also produce fruits that look a bit like cherry tomatoes and contain about 300 seeds. The fruits are poisonous though, so don't eat them.
4. There are about 5,000 varieties of potato in the world.
5. In 1995 the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space when seeds were germinated on the Space Shuttle Columbia.
6. The world's biggest potato, weighing 3.76kg, was grown by English farmer Peter Glazebrook in 2010.
7. There is a museum in Washington DC dedicated to potatoes, the only potato museum in the world.
8. Vincent Van Gogh painted four pictures purely of potatoes.
9. People in Shakespeare's time viewed the potato as an aphrodisiac and called them "Apples of Love."
10. Potato folklore: A peeled potato in the pocket cures toothache; a dried potato worn around the neck cures rheumatism, and warts can be cured by rubbing them with a raw potato.