Your "Idaho" Potatoes Might Be Illegal

First thing's first: This is a safe space. If you do have illegal potatoes in your possession, we're not going to narc on you. We're only here to educate, and to keep the 5-0 off your back.

Before you can know if your potatoes are illegal, you need to know precisely what an Idaho Potato is and isn't. Let's start at the beginning:

What's a potato?

According to Wikipedia, a potato is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas. Potatoes are underground tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's continue.

What's a Russet potato?

A russet potato is a large, flaky potato with dark brown skin. They are sometimes known as "Idaho Potatoes" here in the United States. This is where the legal jargon comes in.

What's an Idaho Potato?

An Idaho Potato is actually a trademark owned by the Idaho Potato Commission. According to them, only a russet potato grown in Idaho can be considered a proper "Idaho Potato."

I'm not sure if my russet potatoes were grown in Idaho or not? Am I going to prison?

Probably not. Again, we're not narcs.

Uh oh. More potato-related legal trouble. Did you know you could actually land yourself in some hot water for simply selling potatoes here in Idaho? It's true.

To make sure you are abiding by all the rules and laws when it comes to your potato slinging endeavors, here's a quick checklist for you: