Posts Tagged “Potatoes USA”
DENVER – Every year, neighborhoods across America embrace their favorite Halloween traditions. But in recent years, families are jumping on new trends that bring an element of surprise to our beloved traditions with potatoes.
That’s right, Potatoes USA is reporting that America’s favorite vegetable has expanded its spooky season repertoire with crafts, games and some very excited trick-or-treaters.
Potatoes or Candy?
Want to surprise and delight your trick-or-treaters? Offer them a potato! Revelers nationwide have begun offering spuds as a fun alternative to candy. “It honestly started as a joke,” explained Pat Foy, a self-employed contractor in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I thought, if I’m going to give something out to kids on Halloween, I don’t want to just give them something that makes them go nuts. I’m of Irish descent, so potatoes made sense. I gave away big baking potatoes, and before I knew it, it took on a life of its own. Who would’ve thought?”
And Foy isn’t the only one mixing things up for Halloween. Families are exploring spooky spud crafts that provide new and old twists on Halloween activities.
Potatoes – The Original Jack-o’-Lantern!
It’s not Halloween without a jack-o’-lantern. But did you know this tradition started with potatoes? The Irish would carve spooky faces into spuds to scare away an evil spirit called Stingy Jack.
Modern Halloween lovers are bringing back this historic trend, sharing their favorite potato jack-o’-lanterns or jack-o’-taters. In addition to being adorable, they know that potatoes are easy to carve and affordable – so it’s easy to have a few extra on hand in case you need a redo. Like pumpkins, the potato’s long shelf-life makes it ideal for displaying your family’s carved creations. And no need to toss the potato insides! Carved out potato can be cut into small pieces for Fall Harvest Mashed Potatoes or other delicious dishes.
Spooky Spud Stamps
Because of their hardy texture, raw potatoes are an ideal craft tool for making spooky spud stamps. While adults carve the potatoes, younger artists can add their own spin to these handmade stamps by choosing designs and acting as the master painter.
“There’s always an element of child-like delight on Halloween. We want to be amazed and see things we don’t expect. Traditions like trick-or-treating for candy bars and carving pumpkins aren’t going anywhere. But it’s really fun to experiment with unexpected twists that can catch people by surprise,” said Marisa Stein, marketing director, Potatoes USA. “Potatoes and Halloween go far back historically, so it’s really cool to see them come back together, and for our traditions to come full circle.”
Families can also create delicious, nutritious Halloween recipes with extra potatoes, like Boo! Pumpkin and Potato Stew, Baked Jack-O’-Lantern Potatoes and Roasted Pumpkin And Potato Soup.
An all-star vegetable, a 5.3 oz skin-on potatoes bring to the table the highest potassium among top 20 most eaten vegetables, nearly one-third of the vitamin C we need each day and 3 grams of plant-based protein, making it an easy choice for families reaching for healthy dishes to balance out the post-Halloween candy hoard.
Be sure to visit PotatoGoodness.com to learn more about the many health benefits of potatoes and find some delicious Halloween or fall recipes.
If you participate in #JackOTater or #Trick-or-Tater, tag @PotatoGoodness on Facebook or Instagram for a chance to win Potato Goodness Swag!
About Potatoes USA
Potatoes USA is the national marketing and promotion board representing U.S. growers and importers. Potatoes USA, the largest vegetable commodity board, was established in 1971 by potato farmers to promote the benefits of eating potatoes. For more information on Potatoes USA’s mission to “Strengthen Demand for Potatoes,” visit PotatoesUSA.com.
By Potatoes USA
DENVER — The Potato industry is making a strong statement about potatoes to demonstrate the performance-boosting benefits of America’s favorite vegetable. Potatoes USA, the nation’s potato marketing and research organization, worked with its members to identify a nutrition-based lifestyle benefit that challenges consumers’ preconceived notions about potatoes. Extensive research led to a strategy based on a key truth: Potatoes fuel performance. Most people don’t consider the potato a performance food and are surprised to learn about all of the nutritional benefits.
Potatoes provide the energy, potassium and complex carbohydrate people need to perform at their best. A medium-size, 5.2-ounce potato with the skin on has, 26 grams of carbohydrate, 620 mg of potassium, and is more energy packed than any other popular vegetable. Potatoes also contain many other important nutrients that athletes seek such as 27 mg vitamin C, 2 g fiber and 3 g complete protein.1
Adequate energy intake supports optimal body functions and carbohydrate is the primary fuel for your brain and a key source of energy for muscles.2 And with the skin on potatoes have more potassium than a medium-size banana. Potassium is an important electrolyte that aids in muscle, cardiovascular and nervous system function.
Potatoes USA is bringing its “performance” strategy to life in a new campaign that shows how potatoes fuel athletic performance and poses the question: “What are you eating?” The campaign is based on the idea that consistently beating your personal best isn’t just about how you train, it’s about what you eat.
“The potato undeniably works in the athlete’s favor,” says Blair Richardson, Potatoes USA President/CEO. “The message is clear: If potatoes can fuel elite athletes, they can fuel your active life, too.”
While the campaign features athletes it is not about marketing only to them. It is about showing the power of the potato through people who can influence consumers to think about potatoes differently.
The campaign is being executed through a variety of mechanisms including race sponsorships—including a year-long partnership with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series®, advertising, influencer marketing, social media and industry engagement.
About Potatoes USA
Potatoes USA is the nation’s potato marketing and research organization. Based in Denver, Colorado, Potatoes USA represents more than 2,500 potato growers and handlers across the country. Potatoes USA was established in 1971 by a group of potato growers to promote the benefits of eating potatoes. Today, as the largest vegetable commodity board, Potatoes USA is proud to be recognized as an innovator in the produce industry and dedicated to positioning potatoes as a nutrition powerhouse.
by Potatoes USA
The domestic marketing committee meeting of Potatoes USA began with a review of sales and marketing research. The volume and value of frozen potato product sales at retail for the past five years were up 2%; the volume of dehy is down 11% and value down 8%; and fresh refrigerated sales up 13% in volume and 19% in value.
For fresh spuds, the volume was down 6% but the value up 6% with russets contributing significantly to the decline, off 13% in volume and down 6% in value. This was countered by an increase in 7% in the volume and 14% in value of red sales; yellows were up 50% in both volume and value; and the volume of purple/blue sales were up 58% with the value up 46% for the five-year period.
Consumer attitudes and in-home usage of tubers continued to improve based on research conducted for Potatoes USA. Potatoes’ (including chips) share of home meal occasions was 26% for breakfast, 41% for lunch, 43% for dinner and 40% for snacks. The share of dinners that included potatoes increased 2 points and puts spuds ahead of all other foods with pasta just below at 40%, rice at 36% and poultry at 31%. The closest vegetable was bagged salad at 20% of dinner occasions. Spuds are also three of the top four dishes served at foodservice led by fries at #1, salads #2, mashed #3 and baked #4. Products that included the product accounted for 9% of all new food items launched at retail.
The marketing department staff provided detailed updates on the programs starting with the Consumer program which is inspiring Food Enthusiasts to prepare and eat more potatoes through print, digital, social media and retail print advertising. Influencers from bloggers to food writers to celebrity chefs are also being engaged to provide inspiring new ways to prepare potatoes. The Spud Nation food trucks operating in Denver and Washington DC are being promoted through social media via Twitter, Instagram, Yelp and Facebook. On the nutrition front, Potatoes USA is establishing that the one lifestyle benefit of potatoes is that they are vital to people performing at their very best. This spans from elite athletes to hardworking adults to busy parents. This message is being delivered by RDs for professional sports teams, writers for fitness and lifestyle magazines and bloggers at FitFluential and elsewhere.
The Retail program is focused on increasing sales of all products at retail through shipper outreach, retailer outreach and consumer ads at retail. New tools and insights for both shippers and retailers will be launched soon. The Ingredient program is making the potato the ingredient MVP and providing food developers and chefs with piping hot inspiration. The Foodservice program is inspiring culinary professionals to offer more potato dishes on their menus. This is done through advertising and media, experiential marketing and events, culinary innovation and public relations. The School Foodservice program is hitting its stride as it creates future potato enthusiast through delicious and healthy potato dishes on school cafeteria menus. Potatoes are very underrepresented at breakfast in schools and thus Potatoes USA, in conjunction with the School Nutrition Association, has launched a campaign including a recipe contest designed to change this. The Potatoes USA Salad Bar Challenge has already placed 264 salad bars in schools across the country. These bars are making a difference not only in kid’s lives but in the inclusion of potatoes in school foodservice.