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 and harvested on farmland, the same way as farming wheat and carrots. When farmed, they will take 8 stages to grow. However, every two stages has the same texture, so only 4 stages are seen. 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 of 1.5, it may take a few applications of bone meal).

As a cooking ingredient
Baked potatoes can be obtained by cooking the raw potatoes in an oven with some kind of fuel. A pair of saplings or a plank is recommended for maximum cooking efficiency.