Beano Superstars – Paul the Potato

Everything you need to know about Beano’s coolest, bravest potato!

Hello, this is Pie Face. How are you? My pal Paul the Potato is feeling a little shy, but has told me he’d like to share some spud-tacular facts with you as part of his own little corner on the internet. Here goes…

• Paul is a King Edward, a noble type of potato which has been grown in the UK since 1902, which was ages ago. Paul is not that old, even though he looks like it. It’s just a bit of mud.

• The humble potato is a root vegetable called a Solanum tuberosum.

• Sweet potatoes are root vegetables too, but are only sort of related to regular potatoes. What a blam fact!

• Here’s another blam fact! Paul’s green hair is actually called a sprout. Sprouts are also green, which is a funny coincide if you think about it for ages.

• The potato was the first vegetable grown in space! Paul would love to travel around Earth!

• Potatoes originated in the Andes mountains of Peru. Spanish explorers brought them back to Europe about 600 years ago, as a sort of gift. Who wouldn’t love a free potato?

• The Spanish word for potato is actually patata. That’s basically the same! We’ve all learned a little Spanish – I wasn’t expecting that, were you?

• There are many ways to prepare and cook potatoes, but we never talk about that. Paul is shaking his head, so let’s move on.

• Like flowers, potato plants can be pollinated by insects, like bees. Thank you bees, for all the excellent work you do.

• A potato is about 80% water. Humans are around 60% water.

Right, Paul says that’s enough awesome facts about potatoes. We’re off to band rehearsal now to make loads of noise with Dennis and the Dinmakers.

Remember, a potato is for life – not just for Christmas!