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Potato Waffles

Gregg Wallace is in Lowestoft at an enormous frozen food factory, where they produce one million potato waffles a day.

Gregg Wallace is in Lowestoft, at an enormous factory where they produce 450 tonnes of frozen food each day. He follows the production of frozen potato waffles, from the arrival of 25 tonnes of potatoes right through to dispatch. Along the way he discovers how they make a monster amount of mash and marvels at the technology which stamps out a million identical waffles every 24 hours, each weighing 68 grams and exactly 15 mm thick.

Meanwhile Cherry Healey is learning about the differences between waxy and floury potatoes and finding out which spud you should use for which job. Small waxy potatoes are best in salads and boiled, while floury potatoes produce the best mash and roasties. She鈥檚 also asking whether, in these carb-conscious days, we鈥檙e unfairly demonising the potato. At King鈥檚 College London she meets a dietician who runs tests which show that the potato, gram for gram, has more vitamin C than beetroot and carrot and more potassium than banana. Keeping hold of these nutrients isn鈥檛 easy. But Cherry is delighted to discover that skin-on wedges, as long as you go easy on the oil, are a nutritional winner.

Historian Ruth Goodman is myth busting Walter Raleigh鈥檚 connection to potatoes. She discovers that he couldn鈥檛 have brought them back from North America, because there weren鈥檛 potatoes there until 20 years after he died. Instead the credit must go to Spanish explorers and an enterprising French chemist called Parmentier, who popularised this exotic new vegetable. She also meets one of the inventors of the potato waffle, who shows her how Mr Whippy ice creams were the inspiration behind this teatime treat.

59 minutes

Last on

Wed 27 Mar 2019 02:45

Clip

Music Played

  • Chase & Status

    Love Me More (feat. Emeli Sand茅)

  • Galantis

    Firebird

  • Sigala & Digital Farm Animals

    Only One

  • Bombay Bicycle Club

    Fairytale Lullaby

  • Imagine Dragons

    Working Man

  • Saint Motel

    My Type

  • Dion

    Runaround Sue

  • Little Mix

    Black Magic

  • Ennio Morricone, London Philharmonic Orchestra

    The Mission

  • Kesha

    Tik Tok

  • Dua Lipa

    Hotter Than Hell

  • Nelly

    Hot In Here (feat. The Neptunes)

  • Jonas Blue

    Mama

  • Little Sonny

    Hot Potato

  • Craig David

    Brand New

  • Charli xcx

    Doing It (feat. Rita Ora)

  • Years & Years

    Border

  • Taylor Swift

    22

  • Royal Blood

    Figure it Out

  • Enter Shikari

    The Sights

  • M83

    Midnight City

  • M83

    Midnight City

  • Disclosure

    Nocturnal (feat. The Weeknd)

  • Calvin Harris

    Disco Heat

  • Tinchy Stryder

    Number 1

  • George Ezra

    Blame It On Me

  • Stereophonics

    Caught By The Wind

  • Galantis

    Make Me Feel (feat. East & Young)

  • Stereophonics

    Have a Nice Day

  • Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

    Keep On Reaching

  • The Killers

    Tyson vs. Douglas

  • Editors

    An End Has A Start

  • R.S.G.

    Scars

  • Clean Bandit

    Stronger

  • Maroon 5

    Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera)

  • Tinie Tempah

    Pass Out (Album Version)

  • The Kooks

    狈补茂惫别

  • Tinchy Stryder

    Preview

  • Jess Glynne

    Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Gregg Wallace
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Ruth Goodman
Sound Geraint Lewis
Sound Simon Cross
Sound Rafick Affejee
Director of photography Chris Titus-King
Camera Operator Rhys Plume
Colourist Tim O'Brien
Editor Ian Goff
Dubber Michael Wood
Video Engineer Charlie Perara
Producer Angela O'Leary
Post-Production editor David Blakemore
Post-Production editor Matthew Holland
Runner Richard Coffey
Researcher Daisy Fordham
Production Coordinator Rachel Drew
Production Coordinator Ally Young
Production Manager Samara Friend
Film Editor Jo Wall
Film Editor Victoria Sankey
Director Simon Cheuk Pong Lee
Assistant Producer Rob Myler
Producer Kate Dooley
Producer Phil Stein
Director Phil Stein
Producer Phillip Smith
Executive Producer Jenny Midl
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Director Michael Rees
Series Editor Amanda Lyon

Broadcasts

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.