Three-student team from the University of Idaho and Washington State University win $25,000 from Rice University business startup competition – Solanux plans to transform the way people eat potatoes.

A three-student team from the University of Idaho and Washington State University took home $25,000 from a recent Rice University business startup competition and came back with high expectations that they have an idea that can transform the way people eat potatoes.

The group’s idea has generated enough interest that team members Gaylene Anderson and Jacob Pierson hope to start an Idaho business called Solanux, based on innovations developed by UI Food Science professor Kerry Huber.

Current potato processing, to produce easily stored granules and flakes for everything from chips to frozen hash browns, uses heat that breaks down potato starch, making it easily digestible as carbohydrates. That’s not totally beneficial, said Anderson, since heating largely reduces a raw potato’s fiber value and creates foods with high glycemic content.

"That’s why people with diabetes are not supposed to eat potatoes," Anderson said. "It spikes their blood glucose."

Tom Sowa

Full Story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/apr/20/processing-innovation-could-give-spuds-new-appeal/