Q: I received a Valentine card which had a photo of a heart-shaped potato on the cover. I’ve found pictures of similar potatoes on the Internet. What causes potatoes to grow this way?

A: White potatoes arise at the end of an underground modified stem. When a stem begins swelling in clay soil, sometimes it will divide in two and continue distending. The lower “point” of a heart-shaped potato is the place where it was attached to the parent plant. The two “lobes” are the ends of the stem. If the potato has red skin, you have a “Valentato” .