THE COMPOSITION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF 

 POTATOES WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON VITAMIN C 



By William B. Esselen, Jr., Assistant Research Professor, Mary E. Lyons,i 



Research Fellow, and Carl R. Fellers, Professor, Department of 



Horticultural Manufactures 



INTRODUCTION 



From colonial times potatoes have been one of the major vegetable crops and 

 have enjoyed an important position in the American diet. Their mild flavor, 

 which makes them an ever-pleasing part of a meal, their low cost as a source of 

 energy, and their ease of preparation have contributed to make potatoes a daily 

 constituent of our meals. However, most people overlook the fact that potatoes, 

 in addition to being a pleasant tasting vegetable and an economical source of 

 energy, possess also other important nutritive qualities. It is the purpose of this 

 bulletin to evaluate the potato nutritionally, particularly in respect to vitamin C. 

 In view of the present national emergency it seems particularly timely to empha- 

 size the true value of this important food stuff. 



POTATOES AS AN IMPORTANT FOOD CROP 



The large food value that can be produced on a sm.all area of land, the ease 

 and low cost of production, and the good storage qualities of potatoes are respon- 

 sible for their value as an agricultural crop. According to Stewart (45), potatoes 

 rank first among the vegetables in quantity produced and used in the United 

 States. Since 1900 it has been one of our largest commercial vegetable crops. 



The commercial potato crop (51) for 1939 was 364,016,000 bushels which was 

 harvested from 3,027,000 acres of land. The average yield per acre for the 10-year 

 period 1929-1939 was 111.5 bushels. In Massachusetts alone, the commercial 

 crop in 1939 was 2,635,000 bushels with many more grown in unreported small 

 plots and gardens. The principal potato-producing areas are the northern and 

 northeastern states. Although almost all of the states produce some potatoes, 

 the most important potato-producing states are Maine, Minnesota, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Aroostook County in Maine is partic- 

 ularly well known for its fine potatoes. 



THE COMPOSITION OF POTATOES 



In order to evaluate a foodstuff from the standpoint of its nutritive value 

 it is necessary to know its chemical composition. This is approximated for the 

 edible portion of potatoes in Table 1. 



Potatoes are essentially a good source of energy because of their high carbo- 

 hydrate content. For many years the evaluation of potatoes in the diet was 

 based on this fact. Recent advances in nutrition have shown the importance of 

 minerals and vitamins. Today foods are evaluated on a basis not only of carbo- 

 hydrate, fat, and protein content but also of mineral and vitamin content. Pota- 

 toes have been found to contribute important amounts of essential minerals to 



^Present address: School of Home Economics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. 



