Potato

Potatoes are a food item that can be planted, consumed or cooked in a furnace to make baked potatoes.

Farming
Potatoes can be farmed, harvested on farmland, the same way as farming wheat and carrots, and are only found as a crop in villages or as a rare drop from Zombies. When farmed, they will take 8 stages to grow. However, there are only 4 distinct textures, so only 4 visible stages: every two stages have the same texture, except that growth stage 7 keeps the same appearance as stages 5-6, so that only stage 8 has the final, 'mature' appearance. Rarely, Potato Crops will drop Poisonous Potatoes.(see below for more info)

Fully grown potato crops drop 1 to 4 potatoes and have a 2% chance of dropping an additional poisonous potato. As of Minecraft 1.5, potato yield can now be increased using a tool with the Fortune enchantment; previously Fortune had no effect on potatoes. Currently, potatoes can be found as a rare drop from zombies and also in NPC Villages alongside wheat and carrots. Bone meal can be used to mature the potato to its last stage of growth.

As a cooking ingredient
Baked potatoes can be obtained by cooking the raw potatoes in a furnace with some kind of fuel.