Potatoes on the Chopping Block in Schools

As part of a push to make school meals healthier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed removing white potatoes from all federally subsidized school breakfasts and limiting them dramatically in lunches.

The proposal is intended to reduce the amount of starchy vegetables, such as French fries and Tater Tots, students eat. Starch-heavy corn and peas are also being cut in favor of leafy greens and orange vegetables, such as sweet potatoes. Yes, not all potatoes are created nutritionally equal.

But the potato is not going down without a fight. The National Potato Council is, naturally, an outspoken critic of the plan.

"There may be preparations that are better than others, but there are no bad fruits or vegetables," said John Keeling, the council's CEO. "When you force a limit on potatoes and you force other things in there you drive the cost up, you reduce the flexibility of the schools, you take away a vegetable that kids like and you run the risk of ... delivering less nutrition."

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also stood up for the spud during a USDA budget hearing in March. In 2010, Maine produced more than 6 percent of America's potatoes, according to the Maine Potato Board.

"One medium white potato has nearly twice as much vitamin C as an entire head of iceberg lettuce," said Collins. "My question, Mr. Secretary, is what does the department have against potatoes?"

The USDA says it's trying to expose children to an array of healthy foods, and while there is nothing wrong with potatoes, children already consume enough of them.

"The Institute of Medicine and other experts have advised the department that parents already do a great job of serving potatoes to their kids at home, so they don't need to eat as many potatoes at school," said USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel in a statement. "The improved nutritional guidelines will add variety to the vegetables our kids currently eat such as carrots, tomatoes and leafy greens ... reducing sodium and increasing whole grains."

The National Potato Council believes the proposal, which could go into effect as early as the 2012-2013 school year, will not increase the amount of vegetables kids eat. The council says, citing its survey of food service professionals, that potatoes are a gateway to other vegetables, and that kids eat more of the other types of vegetables when potatoes are on their plate.

"[They] felt if they reduced the amount of potatoes they offered in meals, and if they substituted other vegetables that kids were less familiar with ... they were going to get significant changes in plate waste," said Keeling.

Keeling also criticized the data used by the USDA to formulate the new guidelines.

"When you look back at the ... USDA recommendations, they are based on what was being consumed in schools in 2002. And since 2002, the potato products that you and I would describe as French fries or other products ... being served in schools have changed dramatically," said Keeling, explaining that most of the items that were once fried are now baked.

"There are very few schools that have fryers even left," he said. "What's happened over that 10-year period is potato processors working with school districts have reformulated the potatoes that are in schools."

Both the National Potato Council and the USDA agree that the number of fryers in schools has decreased substantially and that school meals have become healthier. They just disagree about the best way to make even more progress.

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Recipe: Spring soup with leeks, parsnips, potatoes and horseradish

There are many indications we have emerged from the white, insular cold of winter into the fresh, warm green of spring. These two colors, white and green, that mark this transition also are found in the foods available to us in April.

Once the snow has melted, and the ground is workable, you can go out with your pitchfork and dig up white tubers and roots that have been storing starches and carbohydrates underground all winter. The three that come to mind are parsnips, horseradish and Jerusalem artichokes. All look strikingly similar though they are nuanced in taste, texture and appearance.

Parsnips are planted in the spring and grow until fall, when they can be covered with mulch and harvested the following spring. Parsnips also can be harvested in the fall or winter as long as they have been through a few frosts to sweeten them up.

Horseradish, on the other hand, is a perennial plant, and its roots can be harvested in the spring every year. If you harvest too early they won?t have developed much heat. The horseradish roots look strikingly similar to the other white vegetables of spring and are dug around the same time. You peel the roots, chop them up and store them in vinegar or use fresh.

Jerusalem artichokes, also known as sunchokes, are an interesting tuber. They are made up primarily of carbohydrates rather than starch like in potatoes. They are crisp when fresh but can become mushy if overcooked. The flowers look similar to sunflowers. Sunchokes easily can become a weed in any garden if they aren?t properly managed.

While the previous year?s bounty can be dug up in the spring garden, there are also myriad green things shooting up everywhere to be harvested. Many gardeners and farmers are growing spring greens in greenhouses, and others are out foraging in the woods. The food theme is green and leafy.

My two favorite foods to harvest this time of year are wild leeks, commonly known as ramps, and fiddleheads. The fiddlehead season hasn?t hit this area of Vermont yet, but the ramps are prolific and have been since Easter. Both the bulb and the green leafy part of the ramp are edible. Ramps are easily identifiable in the woods.

If you are interested in learning to forage wild edibles check out, ?Stalking the Wild Asparagus,? or have an experienced forager take you out. There also are many courses about wild edibles offered in Vermont in the spring.

It?s great to be in the kitchen this time of year with a new variety of vegetables and wild edibles to work with. Think: leek and garlic pesto, or leek, sunchoke and parsnip quiche!

Most recently I made a leek, parsnip, potato and horseradish soup. The parsnips and horseradish were harvested from our garden, the leeks from a local patch, and the potatoes from the root cellar. The base of the soup is glorious dairy. Of course, there is always ample dairy to be found in Vermont, so I used goat?s milk from our farm, butter from Cabot and cream from Strafford Organic Creamery. Even though the days are warming up, it is still chilly enough at night to enjoy a warm soup.

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Do root vegetables like sweet potatoes count as vegetables or starches, and is it true that all the nutrition is in ...

Do root vegetables like sweet potatoes count as vegetables or starches, and is it true that all the nutrition is in the skins? - Boston.com  Home Today's Globe News Your Town Business Sports Lifestyle A&E Things to do Travel Cars Jobs Real Estate Health Fashion Food House & Home Green Living Relationships Forums Pets Weddings Moms Do Good Deal of the Day HOME/COLLECTIONS/VEGETABLESDo root vegetables like sweet potatoes count as vegetables or starches, and is it true that all the nutrition is in the skins?Health AnswersMay 02, 2011View commentsShareEmailPrint

Q. Do root vegetables like sweet potatoes count as vegetables or starches, and is it true that all the nutrition is in the skins?

A. Potatoes have fallen from grace in recent years, as health authorities have argued that starch-filled spuds shouldn’t be counted as a vegetable in the diet. The USDA recently proposed reducing the amount of potatoes served in school lunchrooms. But the attack on potatoes leaves some confusion: Should sweet potatoes and other tubers and roots also be lumped into this category?

Linda Antinoro, a registered dietitian at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, says that when evaluating meals, she and her colleagues consider both the potato and sweet potato to be starches. Like white potatoes, sweet potatoes have a high amount of starch — an abundant carbohydrate found in all kinds of plants — compared to other vegetables, which means that a portion of sweet potatoes has about triple the calories of a similar volume of carrots or other vegetable.

However, Antinoro adds, “we would encourage people to eat a sweet potato rather than other starches.’’ By replacing your white potato, rice, pasta, or bread with a sweet potato, you’re adding a whopping dose of beta-carotene, as well as vitamin C, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals.

If you eat sweet potatoes with their skins, you also get a lot of fiber, which can help keep blood sugar levels from spiking after a meal and may also discourage overeating by contributing a sense of fullness. The American Diabetes Association lists sweet potatoes as one of 10 “superfoods,’’ which carry a high nutrition content without sending blood sugar soaring. While it’s not true that the skin contains most of the vitamins and minerals, it contains a large portion of their fiber. Antinoro says it’s always better to eat fruits and vegetables with edible skins to get the most nutritional advantage from their fiber content.

Other high-starch vegetables similar to sweet potatoes include yams, cassava, pumpkin, and winter squashes (e.g., butternut). Antinoro says that most other root vegetables like carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas have a lower starch content and caloric density than potatoes and sweet potatoes, and can be counted as vegetables rather than starches in your meals. The overall balance to strive for, she says, is a plate that contains about half vegetables, one-quarter starches, and one-quarter protein-rich foods.

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