Difference between revisions of "Potato" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
m (Remove * from 'optional' links)
(23 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Contracted}}
+
{{Copyedited}}{{Paid}}{{Approved}}{{Images OK}}{{Submitted}}
 
{{Taxobox_begin | color = lightgreen | name = Potato }}
 
{{Taxobox_begin | color = lightgreen | name = Potato }}
 
{{Taxobox_image | image = [[Image:Potatoes.jpg|200px|]] | caption = }}
 
{{Taxobox_image | image = [[Image:Potatoes.jpg|200px|]] | caption = }}
Line 6: Line 6:
 
{{Taxobox_divisio_entry | taxon = [[flowering plants|Magnoliophyta]] }}
 
{{Taxobox_divisio_entry | taxon = [[flowering plants|Magnoliophyta]] }}
 
{{Taxobox_classis_entry | taxon = [[dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]] }}
 
{{Taxobox_classis_entry | taxon = [[dicotyledon|Magnoliopsida]] }}
{{Taxobox_subclassis_entry | taxon = [[Asteridae]] }}
+
{{Taxobox_subclassis_entry | taxon = Asteridae }}
{{Taxobox_ordo_entry | taxon = [[Solanales]] }}
+
{{Taxobox_ordo_entry | taxon = Solanales }}
{{Taxobox_familia_entry | taxon = [[Solanaceae]] }}
+
{{Taxobox_familia_entry | taxon = Solanaceae }}
{{Taxobox_genus_entry | taxon = ''[[Solanum]]''}}
+
{{Taxobox_genus_entry | taxon = ''Solanum''}}
 
{{Taxobox_species_entry | taxon = '''''S. tuberosum''''' }}
 
{{Taxobox_species_entry | taxon = '''''S. tuberosum''''' }}
 
{{Taxobox_end_placement}}
 
{{Taxobox_end_placement}}
Line 15: Line 15:
 
{{Taxobox_end}}
 
{{Taxobox_end}}
  
The '''potato''' plant (''Solanum tuberosum'') is a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family. Its tubers, called potatoes, are one of the world's most commonly grown and important food crops.
+
The '''potato''' plant (''Solanum tuberosum'') is a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, a family of [[flowering plant]]s that also includes the eggplant, [[mandrake]], deadly nightshade or belladonna, [[tobacco]], [[tomato]], and [[petunia]]. Its [[starch|starchy]] tubers (stem thickened for use as a storage organ), called potatoes, are one of the world's most commonly grown and important food crops.
 +
 
 +
Potatoes are the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest crop in terms of fresh produce (after [[rice]], [[wheat]], and [[maize]]), but this ranking is inflated due to the high water content of fresh potatoes relative to that of other crops. The potato is native to in the Andes, likely somewhere in present-day [[Peru]] or [[Bolivia]], and spread to the rest of the world after European contact with the Americas in the late 1400s and early 1500s.
 +
 
 +
Being easy to grow and having excellent nutritional value (although raw and wild potatoes have some toxicity concerns), the potato was the major staple crop of [[Ireland]] when the potato famine hit in the mid-nineteenth century, costing millions of lives. That crisis revealed some of the worse of human nature and misapplication of [[religion|religious]] beliefs. Some Irish Catholics simply accepted their fate as divine providence. On the other hand, some Protestants considered it punishment brought on by the Catholics for practicing a flawed religion—even requiring starving families to convert to Protestantism before they would be given food, thus ignoring [[Jesus]]' dictum to love one's enemy and the religious principle of living for the sake of others.
 +
 
 +
The [[sweet potato]] (''Ipomoea batatas'') is another crop plant with large, [[starch]]y, tubers (from roots), but is only distantly related to the potato (''Solanum tuberosum''). Although the sweet potato is sometimes known as yam in the United States, it is unrelated to the botanical [[yam]].
  
 
==Botanical description==
 
==Botanical description==
 
[[Image:Potato plant.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Potato plant]]
 
[[Image:Potato plant.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Potato plant]]
Potato plants have a low-growing habit and bear white to purple [[flower]]s with yellow
 
[[stamen]]s.
 
  
Buds called "eyes" appear on the surface of potato [[tubers]]. Since common varieties of potatoes do not produce [[seed]]s (they bear sterile flowers), propagation occurs by planting pieces of existing tubers, cut to include at least one eye. Confusingly, these pieces can bear the name "seed potatoes". The haulm or shaw of the potato plant may wither if early harvesting does not occur.
+
The potato plant is an ''[[herb]]aceous perennial'' in that it lacks a woody stem and lives more than two years. It grows 90 to 100 centimeters (3 to 4 feet) tall and is covered with dark green [[leaf|leaves]]. The above-ground part of the plant dies each winter and regrows in spring. It flowers three to four weeks after sprouting. The flowers are white, pink, or purple with yellow stamens. After many years of cultivation, the potato has lost much of its ability to produce seeds. Only very rarely does a flower produce a fruit. These are called seed balls and look like small green tomatoes. Each contains up to three hundred seeds, which are sometimes planted in an effort to create new potato varieties. They should not be eaten as they have poisonous substances.
 +
 
 +
The below-ground part of the potato plant continues to live after the above-ground part has died in winter. Food energy for the next year's growth, in the form of [[protein]] and [[starch]], and also water is stored in tubers, called potatoes, which are rhizomes (modified stems) attached to the root system. They are covered by an outer skin called the periderm. Inside that is the cortex, which serves as a storage area for protein and starch. Inside that is the vascular ring that receives starch from the plant's leaves and stem. The starch moves out of the vascular ring to the parenchyma cells that surround it. These cells are the tuber's main storage areas for starch. The pith, which makes up the center of the tuber, is the main area for water storage.
  
After potato plants flower, some varieties will produce small green fruit that look similar to green [[cherry tomato|cherry-tomato]]es. These produce seeds like other fruits. Insects can cross-pollinate the flowers of different potato plants. Each of the fruits can contain up to 300 true seeds. One can separate the seeds from the fruits by putting them in a blender on a slow speed with some water, then leaving them in water for a day so that the seeds will sink and the rest of the fruit will float. Potato fruit contains [[poisonous]] substances: one should not eat them. However, some horticulturists sell [[chimeras]] made by grafting a tomato plant onto a potato plant, which can produce both edible tomatoes and potatoes. These chimera plants are more commonly known as "the Miraculous Tuber-Plant".
+
A potato plant grows anywhere from three to 20 tubers during its growing season. In the spring the tubers sprout and the above-ground plants grow anew.
  
==Distribution==
+
==Wild potatoes==
Potatoes grow best in cool climates with good rainfall or irrigation such as in western Europe. But they are also widely grown in the subtropical lowlands of the Indo-Gangetic plains of India (as a winter crop) and in the highlands of southwest China (for example, [[Sichuan]] and [[Yunnan]] province) and in equatorial highlands of Java.
 
  
=="Potato" etymology==
+
There are about two hundred species of wild potato. They all somewhat resemble the common potato, ''Solanum tuberosum'', which does not grow in the wild. They are found only in the New World where they grow in Western [[South America]] from central [[Argentina]] and [[Chile]], north through [[Mexico]], and into the Southwestern [[United States]]. [[Peru]] has the largest number of wild potato species (Hijmans and Spooner 2001).
[[Image:Kartoffelkorb-F100 lrg-kl-hell.jpg|thumb|Van Gogh: Basket of Potatoes, 1885]]
 
The [[Quechua]] word for potato is ''papa''. In the 16th century, the potato was introduced to Spain (the first record is from Sevilla, around the year 1570) and from there to the rest of Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. The name "potato" comes from the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word ''batata'', meaning [[sweet potato]], ''Ipomoea batatas''. The sweet potato had arrived much earlier; [[Christopher Columbus]] himself had brought it back from the Caribbean. The potato has only a very distant relationship with the sweet potato, but because the edible part of both crops is an underground organ (a root in the case of the sweet potato), they have often been confused.
 
  
In Spain, the potato is now called ''patata'', although in some parts ''papa'' is also used. From Spain the potato went to Italy, where it was likened to truffles (mushrooms that grow underground), or ''tartufoli'' in Italian. The German (''kartoffel'') and Russian word for potato are derived from this Italian origin. Another common name is "earth-apple": ''pomme de terre'' in French, ''aardappel'' in Dutch, ''תפוח אדמה'' (''tapuach adama'') in Hebrew (often contracted as the single word ''תפוד'', ''tapud''), and ''Erdapfel'' in Austrian German. ''Pomme'' meant [[fruit]] or [[vegetable]] in XVI century French and ''pomme de terre'' (fruit of the earth) was possibly translated litteraly when the potato was adopted by further nations. The term "earth-apples" should not be confused with "earth-pears" (''Helianthus tuberosum''), which are also known as topinambour or the [[Jerusalem Artichoke]]. In [[Polish language|Polish]], potatoes are called ''ziemniaki'', which comes from the word ''ziemia'', meaning ''earth'' or ''soil''.
+
Most potato species grow at high elevations in mountainous regions with hot summers and cold winters.
  
Another common naming approach is to refer to its origin: 'foreign tuber' in China, 'Batavian tuber' in Japan, after Batavia (now Jakarta) on Java. In Czech they are called "brambory", after the German city of Brandenburg. In Brazil, ''batata'' is the term used, but its full name is actually ''batata inglesa'' (lit. "English potato"). In the [[United States]] people sometimes refer to the "Irish potato", a reference to the source of potato's introduction into the British North American colonies. The term Irish potato helps distinguish the crop from the [[sweet potato]], but then the sweet potato is commonly called "[[yam]]" in the United States, whereas that is yet an entirely different crop.
+
==History==
  
A number of popular alternatives or shortened forms exist in English, such as ''taters'', ''murphies'', or ''tatties'', the last usually associated with [[Scotland]]. Potatoes are commonly known as ''spuds'' in parts of the [[United States]] and other English-speaking areas. The exact origin of the term is unclear. It may refer to a "spudder," a shovel-like tool used to harvest potatoes, or to a wooden barrel sorters would put small potatoes into when sorting for larger ones. [http://www.idahopotato.com/faq/index.php#a30].  
+
===Origins===
 +
It is likely that people have been digging up and eating wild potatoes for thousands of years. At some point, it was discovered that by replanting stored tubers a larger crop could be produced and potato cultivation began. This seems to have happened about 7,000 years ago in Southern [[Peru]]. Besides ''Solanum tuberosum'', six other species of potato are cultivated today in South America.
  
In the [[Irish language]] the word used for potato is ''práta'', plural ''prátaí'' (though this has become ''fata''/''fataí'' in Connacht Irish). In Ireland this word is sometimes used by non-Irish speakers as a [[nickname]] for potatoes.
+
Potatoes were an important part of the diet of the [[Inca]]s and other peoples of Western South America. They were prepared in many ways, including being frozen and ground into flour. Hundreds of varieties of potatoes were, and still are, grown in South America. They are adapted for different growing conditions, some being grown at an elevation of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).  
  
== History and spread==
+
A. Hayatt Verrill, in his book ''Foods America Gave the World'', wrote:
[[Image:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg|thumb|[[Vincent Van Gogh]]: "Potato Eaters", Nuenen, April 1885, oil on canvas]]
 
  
===Origins===
+
<blockquote>I do not believe that anyone knows how many varieties of potatoes there are in Peru, but to a person accustomed to out ordinary everyday “spuds," the display of potatoes in a Peruvian market is simply bewildering. There are tubers with white, yellow, pink, gray and lavender "meat"; with skins white, pink, red, yellow, brown, green, purple, orange, black, and spotted and streaked with various hues; potatoes of every conceivable size and shape, some as smooth and shiny as a tomato, others as rough and warty as a toad.</blockquote>
There are about 200 different wild potato species. They occur from the southwestern USA through the highlands of Mexico, Central America, the Andes to Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. Most species diversity is found in the Mexican transvolcanic belt (near Mexico City, and in the central-southern Andes (central Peru to Bolivia).
 
  
The ancestor of the modern cultivated potato was domesticated in the [[Andes]]. Recent genetic analysis has shown that the potato was cultivated from one progenitor in an area of southern [[Peru]], and the cultivated species then spread from there. However, the plant may have been used in other parts of the world, and it appears that native Americans collected or even cultivated them in what is now New Mexico (USA). Archaeological evidence suggests that Andean people have cultivated the potato for at least 7,000 years. In [[pre-Columbian]] times it was widely grown in the Andes (at high elevations where it is too cold for maize) and in parts of Chile (Chiloe island in particular).
+
===[[Spain]]===
 +
The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish conquistador Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America. After the potato was brought over to Spain, it gradually spread across Europe. Initially, the food was treated with distrust, and was believed to be unhealthy and even un-Christian. This prevented widespread acceptance for a period, although it began to be promoted as a medicinal plant.
 +
[[Image:Potato blossom.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Potato blossom]]
  
===Spain===
+
===[[England]]===
The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish [[conquistador]] Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America. After the potato was brought over to Spain, it gradually spread across Europe. Initially the food was treated with distrust, and was believed to be unhealthy and even un-Christian. This prevented widespread acceptance for a period, although it began to be promoted as a medicinal plant.
+
Popular legend has long credited [[Sir Walter Raleigh]] with first bringing the potato to England. History suggests Sir [[Francis Drake]] as a more likely candidate. In 1586, after battling the Spaniards in the [[Caribbean]], Drake stopped at Cartagena in [[Colombia]] to collect provisions&mdash;including [[tobacco]] and potato tubers. Before returning to England, he stopped at Roanoke Island, where the first English settlers had attempted to set up a colony. The pioneers returned to England with Drake, along with the potatoes. Agriculturalists in Europe soon found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as [[wheat]] and [[oat]]s; potatoes produce more food energy than any other European crop for the same area of land and require only a shovel for harvesting.
  
During periods of warfare, the potato proved beneficial. Grain crops could be burned down and grain stores confiscated by marching armies, but potatoes lay underground and were generally unaffected by military foraging. This led to increased use by the peasantry of areas in Germany, which had been particularly badly ravaged during the [[Thirty Years' War]].
+
===[[Ireland]]===
  
===England===
+
[[Image:Kartoffelkorb-F100 lrg-kl-hell.jpg|thumb|200 px|[[Vincent Van Gogh]], ''Basket of Potatoes'', 1885]]
Popular legend has long credited Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] with first bringing the potato to England.  History suggests Sir [[Francis Drake]] as a more likely candidate. In 1586, after battling the Spaniards in the [[Caribbean]], Drake stopped at [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]] in [[Colombia]] to collect provisions &#8212; including [[tobacco]] and potato tubers. Before returning to England he stopped at [[Roanoke Island]], where the first English settlers had attempted to set up a colony. The pioneers returned to England with Drake, along with the potatoes. Agriculturalists in Europe soon found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as [[wheat]] and [[oat]]s; potatoes produce more [[food energy]] than any other European crop for the same area of land and require only a [[shovel]] for harvesting.
+
The potato became such an important food for the Irish that the popular imagination automatically associates the two today, but its early history in Ireland remains obscure. One speculation has it that the potato may have originally arrived in Ireland washed ashore from wrecked galleons of the [[Spanish Armada]] (1589). Another story credits the introduction of the potato in Ireland to [[Sir Walter Raleigh]], a financier of transatlantic expeditions, at least one of which made landfall at Smerwick, County Kerry in October 1587. However, no record survives of what botanical specimens it may have carried or whether they thrived in Ireland. Some stories say that Raleigh first planted the potato on his estate near Cork. A 1699 source (over one century after the event) says, “The potato .... Was brought first out of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, and he stopping at Ireland, some was planted there, where it thrived well and to good purpose, for in three succeeding wars, when all the corn above ground was destroyed, this supported them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not extirpate them” (Tomas 2003).  
  
===Ireland===
+
Whatever the source, the potato became popular in Ireland both because of its high productivity and because of the advantages of both growth and storage hidden underground. English landlords also encouraged potato-growing by Irish tenants because they wanted to produce more [[wheat]]&mdash;if the Irish could survive on a crop that took less land, that would free a greater area for wheat production. By 1650, potatoes had become a staple food of Ireland, and they began to replace wheat as the major crop elsewhere in Europe, serving to feed both people and animals.  
[[Image:Potato blossom.JPG|right|160px|thumb|Potato blossom, [[Hemingway, South Carolina]]]]
 
The potato became such an important food for the Irish that the popular imagination automatically associates the two today, but its early history in Ireland remains obscure. One speculation has it that the potato may have originally arrived in Ireland washed ashore from wrecked galleons of the [[Spanish Armada]] (1589). Another story credits the introduction of the potato in Ireland to [[Sir Walter Raleigh]], a financier of transatlantic expeditions, at least one of which made landfall at [[Smerwick]], [[County Kerry]] in October, 1587, but no record survives of what botanical specimens it may have carried or whether they thrived in Ireland. Some stories say that Sir Walter first planted the potato on his estate near [[Cork]]. A 1699 source (over one century after the event) says 'The potato .... Was brought first out of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, and he stopping at Ireland, some was planted there, where it thrived well and to good purpose, for in three succeeding wars, when all the corn above ground was destroyed, this supported them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not extirpate them.' <sup>[http://www.finnvalley.ie/irelandsown/spuds/potato.html]</sup>
 
  
Whatever the source, the potato became popular in Ireland both because of its high productivity and because of the advantages of both growth and storage hidden underground. English landlords also encouraged potato-growing by Irish tenants because they wanted to produce more wheat &#8212; if the Irish could survive on a crop that took less land, that would free a greater area for wheat production. By 1650 potatoes had become a staple food of Ireland, and they began to replace wheat as the major crop elsewhere in Europe, serving to feed both people and animals.  
+
A single devastating event, however, looms large in the Irish history of potatoes&mdash;the Irish potato famine. In the 1840s, a major outbreak of potato blight, a plant disease caused by a [[fungus]], swept through Europe, wiping out the potato crop in many countries. The Irish working class lived largely on the unpalatable but fertile 'lumper,' and when the blight reached Ireland their main staple food disappeared.
  
A single devastating event, however, looms large in the Irish history of potatoes &mdash; the [[Irish potato famine]]. In the 1840s a major outbreak of [[potato blight]], a [[plant disease]], swept through Europe, wiping out the potato crop in many countries. The Irish working class lived largely on the unpalatable but fertile 'lumper', and when the blight reached Ireland their main staple food disappeared.
+
Though Ireland grew a variety of crops at this time, most went as exports to Europe for sale at a higher price. In fact, during the Potato Famine, Ireland remained a net exporter of foodstuffs, being that the exported foods remained too expensive for the Irish themselves to afford. Historians continue to debate the roles that English rule and European market prices played in causing the famine. The potato, which was a blessing to Ireland because of its nutritional value coupled with the fact that many potatoes could be grown on small areas of land, became a problem when the people became overly dependent on it, with a homogenous diet.
  
Though Ireland grew a variety of crops at this time, most went as exports to Europe for sale at a higher price. In fact, during the Potato Famine, Ireland remained a net exporter of food stuffs, being that the exported foods remained too expensive for the Irish themselves to afford.  Historians continue to debate the roles that English rule and European market prices played in causing the famine.
+
Some misguided aspects of [[religion]] also played a role. Many of the Catholic Irish considered it the work of divine providence and just accepted their fate, and many of the non-Irish Protestants, particularly in England, as well as Irish Protestants, likewise considered it providence, caused by the Catholics for having a flawed religion. Some Protestants insisted on conversion prior to giving any food, even to those parents and children starving to death (Stitt 2006).  
  
Ultimately the famine led to almost a million deaths, and the subsequent emigration of millions more Irish (see [[Irish diaspora]]). Emigration from the German states also grew, although central Europe did not suffer the mass starvation that occurred in Ireland.
+
Ultimately, the famine led to almost a million deaths, and the subsequent emigration of millions more Irish. Over 18 percent of the population of Ireland died in 1847 and almost 18 percent in 1849. Emigration from the German states also grew, although central Europe did not suffer the mass starvation that occurred in Ireland.
  
 
===Continental Europe===
 
===Continental Europe===
By the seventeenth century the potato had become firmly established as a staple of Europe's poor, leading richer people to spurn it, although this changed gradually, with [[Antoine-Augustin Parmentier]]'s persuading King [[Louis XVI of France]] of the value of the crop which he was fed as a prisoner of [[Prussia]] during the [[Seven Year's War]]. The soup ''[[potage Parmentier]]'' and shepherd's pie ''[[hachis Parmentier]]'' takes their name from the great horticulturalist. By the end of the 18th century, the potato had become popular in France due to the advocacy of Parmentier.  
+
[[Image:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg|thumb|200 px|[[Vincent Van Gogh]], ''Potato Eaters'' (oil on canvas, Nuenen, April 1885)]]
 +
By the seventeenth century, the potato had become firmly established as a staple of Europe's poor, leading richer people to spurn it. This changed gradually, with Antoine-Augustin Parmentier's persuading King [[Louis XVI of France]] of the value of the crop that he was fed as a prisoner of [[Prussia]] during the [[Seven Year's War]]. The soup ''potage Parmentier'' and shepherd's pie ''hachis Parmentier'' take their names from the great horticulturist. By the end of the eighteenth century, the potato had become popular in France due to the advocacy of Parmentier.  
  
Today, potatoes grow widely in Britain, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and other Northern or Eastern European nations, due to their ability to thrive in cold, damp climates. Potatoes figure in many [[national dish]]es of this region. Because the potato grew so well in Northern Europe, it may have contributed to the population-explosion there in the 19th century - though not in other centuries.
+
Today, potatoes grow widely in [[Germany]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Poland]], [[Russia]], and other Northern or Eastern European nations, due to their ability to thrive in cold, damp climates. Potatoes figure in many national dishes of this region. Because the potato grew so well in Northern Europe, it may have contributed to the population explosion there in the nineteenth century.
  
In Russia, potatoes met with initial suspicion: the people called them "the Devil's apples" because of folklore surrounding things which grow underground or which have associations with dirt.
+
In Russia, potatoes met with initial suspicion: the people called them "the Devil's apples" because of folklore surrounding things that grow underground or that have associations with dirt.
  
 
===United States===
 
===United States===
Although potatoes were called "potatoes of the Virginia" by early English botanists, they were in fact from South America, not Virginia. The first mention of potatoes in North America comes in an account of [[Scots-Irish]] settlers in [[Londonderry, New Hampshire]] during 1719. Potatoes were used for food and as animal feed. The first potatoes planted in [[Idaho]] were in 1836 but it was not until after the development by [[Luther Burbank]] of the Russet potato that potatoes became a major Idaho crop, at the beginning of the 20th century. While potatoes are grown commercially in at least 35 states, most potatoes are grown in the north. Idaho grows 30% of the total U.S. potato crop, [[Washington]] another 20%; [[Michigan]], [[Wisconsin]], [[North Dakota]], [[Colorado]], and [[Oregon]] round out the top producers.
+
Although potatoes were called "potatoes of the Virginia" by early English botanists, they were in fact from South America, not [[Virginia]]. The first mention of potatoes in [[North America]] comes in an account of Scots-Irish settlers in Londonderry, [[New Hampshire]] during 1719. Potatoes were used for food and as animal feed. The first potatoes planted in [[Idaho]] were in 1836, but it was not until after the development by [[Luther Burbank]] of the Russet potato that potatoes became a major Idaho crop, at the beginning of the twentieth century. While potatoes are grown commercially in at least 35 states, most potatoes are grown in the north. Idaho grows 30 percent of the total U.S. potato crop, [[Washington]] state another 20 percent; [[Michigan]], [[Wisconsin]], [[North Dakota]], [[Colorado]], and [[Oregon]] round out the top producers.
 
 
== Varieties ==
 
[[Image:Various types of potatoes for sale.jpg|thumb|250px|A variety of potatoes for sale]]
 
 
 
From a growing point of view potatoes are divided into first earlies, second earlies, and main crop.  The former rapidly produce small tubers, the latter more slowly produce large ones.
 
 
 
Potatoes' skins come in the colors brown, yellow, pink, red, and purple (sometimes called "blue"). Their flesh may appear white or may reflect the color of the skin. The market calls small types "fingerlings" or "new" potatoes, larger potatoes may class as "earlies" or "main crop", with the "main crop" referring to varieties that will store well. Potato retailers may label different types as:
 
* "boiling", indicating that they retain some shape when boiled
 
* "baking", indicating that they only hold their shape if baked
 
* "roasting", indicating good flavor when roasted
 
* "salad" to indicate suitability for salad use (often firm and waxy-fleshed when boiled)
 
* "mashing" to indicate that when mashed they form a smooth consistency, neither fibrous nor grainy
 
 
 
Common North American potato varieties include:
 
*''[[Russet Burbank potato|Russet Burbank]]'' &#8212; large, brown skin, white-fleshed, developed by [[Luther Burbank]]
 
*''[[Yellow Finn potato|Yellow Finn]]'' &#8212; small, with yellow skin and flesh
 
*''[[Red Gold potato|Red Gold]]'' &#8212; red skin, yellow flesh
 
*''[[German Butterball potato|German Butterball]]'' &#8212; a yellow-fleshed small oval potato. Won first place in Rodale's Organic Gardening "Taste Off"
 
*''[[Yukon Gold potato|Yukon Gold]]'' &#8212; yellow skin and flesh
 
 
 
In the United States the term "Idaho potato" often refers to the ''Russet Burbank'', the principal variety grown in [[Idaho]], that country's principal potato-growing region.  The term also occurs generically for other potatoes grown in Idaho.
 
 
 
Common British potato varieties include:
 
*''[[Maris Piper potato|Maris Piper]]'' &#8212; a '''good general-purpose''' white main-crop potato, not suitable for salads. The favorite potato of [[chip shop]]s
 
*''[[King Edward potato|King Edward]]'' &#8212; a popular '''roasting potato''', often served with the [[Sunday roast]], white, main-crop
 
*''[[Desiree potato|Desiree]]'' &#8212; a red-skinned main-crop potato originally bred in the [[Netherlands]], a favorite with [[allotment (gardening)|allotment]]-holders because of its resistance to disease and drought. It has a yellow flesh with a distinctive flavor.
 
*''[[International Kidney potato|International Kidney]]'' &#8212; trademarked as ''[[Jersey Royal potatoes|Jersey Royal]]'', '''a salad new potato''', grown on the island of [[Jersey]] and in [[Spain]]
 
*''[[Pink Fir Apple potato|Pink Fir Apple]]'' &#8212; a pink-skinned salad potato which grows in irregular shapes
 
*''[[Golden Wonder potato|Golden Wonder]]'' &#8212; famous Scottish '''frying potato''', used to make the eponymous [[potato chips|crisps]]
 
*''[[Kerr's Pink potato|Kerr's Pink]]'' &#8212; bred in Scotland: an '''excellent potato for boiling'''.
 
*''[[Comber Spuds potato|Comber Spuds]]'' &#8212; grown in [[Comber]], [[Northern Ireland]], these 'new' potatoes are picked in April and '''best used [[sautéed]] or for making [[Champ (food)|champ]].'''
 
 
 
Many potato varieties in the U.K. originated on breeding stations which give part of the potato's name.  Thus the Maris breeding station developed the above-mentioned Maris Piper and the Maris Peer. Another well-known station,  Pentland, produced such varieties as Pentland Javelin and Dell.
 
 
 
 
 
Common French varieties include
 
*''[[Amandine potato|Amandine]]'' &#8212; a variety of early potato, descended from the varieties Charlotte and Mariana. Bred in [[Brittany]], [[France]], it entered the national list of potato varieties in 1994. Amandine shaws typically produce long tubers with very pale, unblemished skin. Their flesh, firm and also very pale, contains comparatively little starch. Amandine potatoes have become popular in [[Switzerland]].
 
 
 
[[Peru]], as the native area of origin for potatoes, is home to a wide range of more than 4,200 varieties.
 
 
 
Other varieties include:
 
* [[Jersey benies potato|Jersey benies]]
 
* [[Kipfler potato|Kipfler]]
 
* [[Mona Lisa potato|Mona Lisa]]
 
* [[Rooster potato|Rooster]]
 
* [[Red kings potato|Red kings]]
 
* [[Sussbury Gambit potato|Sussbury Gambit]]
 
 
 
 
 
The [[sweet potato]] is not a true potato, it is a separate species and part of a different plant family: the [[Convolvulaceae]].
 
 
 
== Food value ==
 
{{nutritionalvalue | name=Potato, raw, with peel | water=79 g | kJ=321 | protein=2 g | carbs=19 g | fat=0.1 g | fiber=2.2 g | starch=15 g | vitA_mg=5 | thiamin_mg=0.08 | riboflavin_mg=0.03 | vitB6_mg=0.25 | vitC_mg=20 | niacin_mg=1.1 | iron_mg=1.8 | calcium_mg=12 | magnesium_mg=23 | phosphorus_mg=57 | potassium_mg=421 | sodium_mg=6 | right=1 }}
 
Potatoes have a high [[carbohydrate]] content and include protein, minerals (particularly [[potassium]]), and [[vitamin]]s, including [[vitamin C]]. Freshly harvested potatoes retain more vitamin C than stored potatoes.
 
 
 
New and fingerling potatoes offer the advantage that they contain fewer toxic chemicals. Such potatoes offer an excellent source of [[nutrition]]. Peeled, long-stored potatoes have less nutritional value, especially when fried, although they still have potassium and vitamin C.
 
 
 
Potatoes also provide [[starch]], [[flour]], [[ethanol|alcohol]] (see [[Poitin]]), [[dextrin]], and [[livestock]] fodder.
 
 
 
Potatoes (particularly mashed potatoes) are known to have a high [[Glycemic index]], a disqualifying factor in many diets.
 
 
 
== Cooking ==
 
Cooks and chefs can prepare potatoes for eating in numerous ways: either with their skin on or peeled, whole or cut into pieces, and with seasonings or without. The only requirement involves cooking &#8212; to break down the starch and make them edible. Most end-consumers eat potatoes hot, but several basic potato recipes involve cooking the potatoes and then eating them cold &#8212; [[potato salad]] and [[potato chip]]s (or "potato crisps"). One of the most common presentation methods involves [[mashed potato|mashing potatoes]]: peeling, boiling, then mashing and mixing with butter, cream, or other seasonings before serving.
 
 
 
Mashed potatoes form a major component of several traditional dishes from the [[British Isles]] such as [[shepherd's pie]], [[bubble and squeak]], [[Champ (food)|champ]] and the 'tatties' which accompany [[haggis]].  They are also often [[sautéed]] to accompany a meal.
 
 
 
In the United States, potatoes have become one of the most widely-consumed crops, and thus have a variety of preparation methods and condiments. One popular favorite involves a baked potato with cheddar cheese (or sour cream and chives) on top, and in [[New England]] "smashed potatoes" (a chunkier variation on mashed potatoes, retaining the peel) have great popularity.
 
 
 
Other presentations or dishes may see potatoes [[baked potato|baked]] whole; [[boiling|boiled]]; [[steaming|steamed]]; cut into cubes and [[roasting|roasted]]; [[scalloped]] diced or sliced and fried (home fries); grated into small thin strips and fried (hash browns); grated and formed into dumplings, [[Rösti]] or [[potato pancake]]s; and cut into long, thin pieces and fried or baked ([[French fries]], called "chips" in the UK). Potatoes also serve to make a type of pasta called [[gnocchi]]. Potatoes form one of the main ingredients in many soups such as the pseudo-French [[vichyssoise]] and Albanian [[potato and cabbage soup]]. Potato chunks also commonly appear as a [[stew]] ingredient.
 
 
 
In [[Scandinavia]], especially [[Sweden]] and [[Finland]], newly harvested, early ripening varieties are considered a special delicacy. Boiled whole and served with [[dill]], these "new potatoes" are traditionally consumed together with [[pickle]]d [[herring|Baltic herring]].
 
 
 
A traditional [[Canary Islands]] dish is [[Canarian wrinkly potatoes]] or ''Papas arragudas''.
 
 
 
== Toxic compounds in potatoes ==
 
[[Image:Potato plants.jpg|thumb|250px|Potato plants]]
 
Potatoes contain [[glycoalkaloid]]s, toxic compounds, of which the most prevalent are [[solanine]] and [[chaconine]]. Cooking at high temperatures (over 170 °C or 340 °F) partly destroys these. The concentration of glycoalkaloid in wild potatoes suffices to produce toxic effects in humans. Glycoalkaloids  occur in the greatest concentrations just underneath the skin of the tuber, and they increase with age and exposure to light. Glycoalkaloids may cause [[headache]]s, [[diarrhea]], [[cramps]] and in severe cases [[coma]] and death; however, [[poison]]ing from potatoes occurs very rarely. Light exposure also causes greening, thus giving a visual clue as to areas of the tuber that may have become more toxic; however, this does not provide a definitive guide, as greening and glycoalkaloid accumulation can occur independently of each other. Some varieties of potato contain greater glycoalkaloid concentrations than others; breeders developing new varieties test for this, and sometimes have to discard an otherwise promising cultivar.
 
 
 
Breeders try to keep solanine levels below 0.2 mg/g (200 ppmw). However, when even these commercial varieties turn green, they can approach concentrations of solanine of 1 mg/g (1000 ppmw). Some studies suggest that 200 mg of solanine can constitute a dangerous dose. This dose would require eating 1 average-sized spoiled potato or 4 to 9 good potatoes (over 3 pounds or 1.4 kg) at one time. The National Toxicology Program suggests that the average American consumes 12.5 mg/person/day of solanine from potatoes. Dr. Douglas L. Holt, the State Extension Specialist for Food Safety at the [[University of Missouri - Columbia]], notes that no reported cases of potato-source solanine poisoning have occurred in the U.S. in the last 50 years and most cases involved eating green potatoes or drinking potato-leaf tea.
 
 
 
Solanine is also found in other plants, in particular the deadly nightshade. This poison affects the nervous system causing weakness and confusion. See [[Solanine]] for more information.
 
 
 
See also [[List of poisonous plants]]
 
 
 
== Cultivation ==
 
  
Potatoes are generally grown from the eyes of another potato and not from seed. Home gardeners often plant a piece of potato with two or three eyes in a hill of mounded soil. Commercial growers plant potatoes as a row crop using seed tubers, young plants or microtubers and may mound the entire row.
+
==World Production==
 
+
According to the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]], the worldwide production of potatoes in 2005 was 322 million metric tons [http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Crops.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=EN] which makes it the fifth highest production crop in the world.
[[Image:Potato EarlyRose sprouts.jpg|250px|thumb|Seed tuber with sprouts<br>Early Rose variety]]
+
[[image:Tractors in Potato Field.jpg|250px|thumb|A potato field in the United States]]
[[image:Tractors in Potato Field.jpg|250px|thumb|Potato field<br>[[Fort Fairfield, Maine]]]]
 
[[image:IMG 5619.JPG|250px|thumb|Potato Planting<br>[[Washington]]]]
 
At harvest time, gardeners generally dig up potatoes with a three-prong "grape" (or "graip") or [[spading fork]], but in larger plots, the [[plough]] can serve as the most expeditious implement for unearthing potatoes. Commercial harvesting is typically done with large [[potato harvester]]s which scoop up the plant and the surrounding earth. This is transported up an apron chain consisting of steel links several feet wide. This separates some of the dirt. The chain deposits into an area where further separation occurs. Different designs employ different systems at this point. The most complex designs use vine choppers and shakers, along with a blower system or "Flying Willard" to separate the potatoes from the plant. The result is then usually run past workers who continue to sort out plant material, stones, and rotten potatoes before the potatoes are continuously delivered to a wagon or truck. Further inspection and separation occurs when the potatoes are unloaded from the field vehicles and put into storage.
 
 
 
To reduce the ground till it is completely free of root-weeds, may be considered as a desiderutum in potato husbandry; though in many seasons these operations cannot be perfectly executed, without losing the proper time for planting, which never ought to be beyond the first of May, if circumstances do not necessarily interdict it.  Three plowings, with necessary harrowings and rollings, are necessary in most cases before the land is in suitable condition.
 
 
 
It is important to harvest potatoes before heavy frosts begin, since field frost damages potatoes in the ground, and even cold weather makes potatoes more susceptible to bruising and possibly later rotting which can quickly ruin a large stored crop.
 
 
 
Seed potato crops are 'rogued' in some countries to eliminate diseased plants or those of a different variety from the seed crop. 
 
 
 
A major pest of potato plants is the [[Colorado potato beetle]].
 
 
 
==New potatoes== 
 
Potatoes are generally cured after harvest to thicken the skin. Prior to curing, the skin is very thin and delicate and the potatoes are known as "new potatoes" and are particularly flavorful. New potatoes are often harvested by the home gardener by "grabbling", i.e. pulling out the young tubers by hand while leaving the plant in place. In markets one sometimes finds thin-skinned varieties sold as new potatoes.
 
 
 
==Production==
 
According to the [[Food and Agriculture Organization]], the worldwide production of potatoes in 2005 was 322 million [[metric ton]]s[http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/form?collection=Production.Crops.Primary&Domain=Production&servlet=1&hasbulk=0&version=ext&language=EN] which makes it the fifth highest production crop in the world.
 
 
The leading producers of potatoes in 2005 were:  
 
The leading producers of potatoes in 2005 were:  
 
{|class=wikitable
 
{|class=wikitable
Line 189: Line 90:
 
!Production,<small><br/>in million metric tons</small>
 
!Production,<small><br/>in million metric tons</small>
 
|-
 
|-
|[[PRC|China]]
+
|[[China]]
 
|align=right|73
 
|align=right|73
 
|-
 
|-
Line 211: Line 112:
 
|-
 
|-
 
|}
 
|}
 +
 +
==Nutrition==
 +
[[Image:Various types of potatoes for sale.jpg|thumb|250px|A variety of potatoes for sale in a supermarket]]
 +
Potatoes are an important part of the diet in many countries, especially in Northern Europe and North America, and are featured in a number of their national dishes and most popular dishes. Potatoes are an excellent food providing [[carbohydrates]], [[protein]], [[vitamin]]s (especially Vitamin C and Vitamin B6), and [[mineral]]s (especially [[iron]] and [[potassium]]). Freshly harvested potatoes retain more vitamin C than stored potatoes.
 +
Potatoes contain almost no fat, and are low in calories. The skin of potatoes has dietary fiber and cooking potatoes in their skin tends to result in less leaching of vitamins and minerals.
 +
 +
The potassium and [[magnesium]] content, with low [[sodium]] content, helps in keeping blood pressure low. Magnesium also helps to prevent tissue calcification and in overcoming formation of stones in the bladder.
 +
 +
Potatoes (particularly mashed potatoes) are known to have a high [[carbohydrate|Glycemic index]] (rate at which a food raises the blood sugar level), a disqualifying factor in many diets. New potatoes have a lower Glycemic index, as well as are higher in vitamin C.
 +
 +
New and fingerling potatoes offer the advantage that they contain fewer toxic chemicals. Such potatoes offer an excellent source of [[nutrition]]. Peeled, long-stored potatoes have less nutritional value, especially when fried, although they still have potassium and vitamin C.
 +
 +
Potatoes also provide [[starch]], [[flour]], [[ethanol|alcohol]] [[dextrin]] (low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the hydrolysis of starch), and [[livestock]] fodder.
 +
 +
=== Toxic compounds in potatoes ===
 +
[[Image:Potato plants.jpg|thumb|250px|Potato plants]]
 +
Potatoes contain glycoalkaloids, toxic compounds of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. Cooking at high temperatures (over 170 °C or 340 °F) partly destroys these. The concentration of glycoalkaloid in wild potatoes and raw potatoes suffices to produce toxic effects in humans. Glycoalkaloids occur in the greatest concentrations just underneath the skin of the tuber, and they increase with age and exposure to light. Glycoalkaloids may cause [[headache]]s, [[diarrhea]], and cramps. Those with susceptibility may also experience migraines, even from a small amount of potatoes. In severe cases of poisoning, [[coma]] and death can occur; however, [[poison]]ing from potatoes occurs very rarely. Light exposure also causes greening, thus giving a visual clue as to areas of the tuber that may have become more toxic; however, this does not provide a definitive guide, as greening and glycoalkaloid accumulation can occur independently of each other. Some varieties of potato contain greater glycoalkaloid concentrations than others; breeders developing new varieties test for this, and sometimes have to discard an otherwise promising cultivar.
 +
 +
Breeders try to keep solanine levels below 0.2 mg/g (200 ppmw). However, when even these commercial varieties turn green, they can approach concentrations of solanine of 1 mg/g (1,000 ppmw). Some studies suggest that 200 mg of solanine can constitute a dangerous dose. This dose would require eating one average-sized spoiled potato or four to nine good potatoes (over 3 pounds or 1.4 kg) at one time. The National Toxicology Program suggests that the average American consumes 12.5 mg/person/day of solanine from potatoes. Dr. Douglas L. Holt, the State Extension Specialist for Food Safety at the [[University of Missouri - Columbia]], notes that no reported cases of potato-source solanine poisoning have occurred in the U.S. in the last 50 years and most cases involved eating green potatoes or drinking potato-leaf tea.
 +
 +
Solanine is also found in other plants, in particular the deadly nightshade. This poison affects the nervous system causing weakness and confusion.
 +
 +
[[Image:Potato EarlyRose sprouts.jpg|250px|thumb|Seed tuber with sprouts<br>Early Rose variety]]
 +
 +
[[image:IMG 5619.JPG|250px|thumb|Potato Planting in the state of [[Washington]]]]
  
 
== References and external links ==
 
== References and external links ==
  
* World Geography of the Potato at http://www.lanra.uga.edu/potato/
+
* Hamilton, A., and D. Hamilton. 2004. [http://www.selfsufficientish.com/potatoes.htm Potatoes - Solanum tuberosums] (accessed on May 4, 2005).
* Reference for potato history: ''The Vegetable Ingredients Cookbook'' by Christine Ingram, Lorenz Books, 1996 ISBN 1859672647
+
* Hijmans, R. J., and D. M. Spooner. 2001. Geographic distribution of wild potato species. ''American Journal of Botany'' 88: 2101-2112.
* ''The History and Social Influence of the Potato'' by Redcliffe N. Salaman ISBN 0521316235
+
* Houghton, C. S. 1978. ''Green Immigrants; The Plants that Transformed America''. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
* Hamilton, Andy & Dave, (2004), [http://www.selfsufficientish.com/potatoes.htm Potatoes - Solanum tuberosums] retrieved on [[4 May]] 2005
+
* Ingram, C. 1996. ''The Vegetable Ingredients Cookbook''. Lorenz Books. ISBN 1859672647
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4306906.stm BBC:  DNA shows all modern potatoes can trace roots back to Peru ]
+
* Salaman, R. N. 1985. ''The History and Social Influence of the Potato''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
* Spooner, D.M. et al. 2005. A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping. ''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,'' Published online before print October 3, 2005
+
* Spooner, D.M., et al. 2005. A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping. ''Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,'' Published online before print October 3, 2005.
* [http://glks.ipk-gatersleben.de/home.php GLKS Potato Database]
+
* Stitt, S. 2006. The roles and attitudes of Irish Protestants during the Potato Famine. ''Irquas Insight'' 2. http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/two/famine.htm.  
* Centro Internacional de la Papa - CIP (International Potato Center) at http://www.cipotato.org/  
+
* Tomas, P. M. 2003. The potato in Irish history. [http://www.finnvalley.ie/irelandsown/spuds/potato.html]
 +
* Verrill, A. H. 1937. ''Foods America Gave the World'' Boston, MA: L. C. Page & Company.
 +
 
  
{{Cookbook}}
 
{{Commons|Solanum tuberosum}}
 
{{Commons|Potato}}
 
  
{{credit|60846899}}
+
{{credit2|Potato|60846899|Sweet_potato|62595116}}
 
[[Category:Life sciences]]
 
[[Category:Life sciences]]
 +
[[Category:Plants]]
 +
[[Category:Food]]

Revision as of 15:16, 29 August 2008

Potato
Potatoes.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Genus: Solanum
Species: S. tuberosum
Binomial name
Solanum tuberosum
L.

The potato plant (Solanum tuberosum) is a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, a family of flowering plants that also includes the eggplant, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, tobacco, tomato, and petunia. Its starchy tubers (stem thickened for use as a storage organ), called potatoes, are one of the world's most commonly grown and important food crops.

Potatoes are the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest crop in terms of fresh produce (after rice, wheat, and maize), but this ranking is inflated due to the high water content of fresh potatoes relative to that of other crops. The potato is native to in the Andes, likely somewhere in present-day Peru or Bolivia, and spread to the rest of the world after European contact with the Americas in the late 1400s and early 1500s.

Being easy to grow and having excellent nutritional value (although raw and wild potatoes have some toxicity concerns), the potato was the major staple crop of Ireland when the potato famine hit in the mid-nineteenth century, costing millions of lives. That crisis revealed some of the worse of human nature and misapplication of religious beliefs. Some Irish Catholics simply accepted their fate as divine providence. On the other hand, some Protestants considered it punishment brought on by the Catholics for practicing a flawed religion—even requiring starving families to convert to Protestantism before they would be given food, thus ignoring Jesus' dictum to love one's enemy and the religious principle of living for the sake of others.

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is another crop plant with large, starchy, tubers (from roots), but is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). Although the sweet potato is sometimes known as yam in the United States, it is unrelated to the botanical yam.

Botanical description

Potato plant

The potato plant is an herbaceous perennial in that it lacks a woody stem and lives more than two years. It grows 90 to 100 centimeters (3 to 4 feet) tall and is covered with dark green leaves. The above-ground part of the plant dies each winter and regrows in spring. It flowers three to four weeks after sprouting. The flowers are white, pink, or purple with yellow stamens. After many years of cultivation, the potato has lost much of its ability to produce seeds. Only very rarely does a flower produce a fruit. These are called seed balls and look like small green tomatoes. Each contains up to three hundred seeds, which are sometimes planted in an effort to create new potato varieties. They should not be eaten as they have poisonous substances.

The below-ground part of the potato plant continues to live after the above-ground part has died in winter. Food energy for the next year's growth, in the form of protein and starch, and also water is stored in tubers, called potatoes, which are rhizomes (modified stems) attached to the root system. They are covered by an outer skin called the periderm. Inside that is the cortex, which serves as a storage area for protein and starch. Inside that is the vascular ring that receives starch from the plant's leaves and stem. The starch moves out of the vascular ring to the parenchyma cells that surround it. These cells are the tuber's main storage areas for starch. The pith, which makes up the center of the tuber, is the main area for water storage.

A potato plant grows anywhere from three to 20 tubers during its growing season. In the spring the tubers sprout and the above-ground plants grow anew.

Wild potatoes

There are about two hundred species of wild potato. They all somewhat resemble the common potato, Solanum tuberosum, which does not grow in the wild. They are found only in the New World where they grow in Western South America from central Argentina and Chile, north through Mexico, and into the Southwestern United States. Peru has the largest number of wild potato species (Hijmans and Spooner 2001).

Most potato species grow at high elevations in mountainous regions with hot summers and cold winters.

History

Origins

It is likely that people have been digging up and eating wild potatoes for thousands of years. At some point, it was discovered that by replanting stored tubers a larger crop could be produced and potato cultivation began. This seems to have happened about 7,000 years ago in Southern Peru. Besides Solanum tuberosum, six other species of potato are cultivated today in South America.

Potatoes were an important part of the diet of the Incas and other peoples of Western South America. They were prepared in many ways, including being frozen and ground into flour. Hundreds of varieties of potatoes were, and still are, grown in South America. They are adapted for different growing conditions, some being grown at an elevation of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet).

A. Hayatt Verrill, in his book Foods America Gave the World, wrote:

I do not believe that anyone knows how many varieties of potatoes there are in Peru, but to a person accustomed to out ordinary everyday “spuds," the display of potatoes in a Peruvian market is simply bewildering. There are tubers with white, yellow, pink, gray and lavender "meat"; with skins white, pink, red, yellow, brown, green, purple, orange, black, and spotted and streaked with various hues; potatoes of every conceivable size and shape, some as smooth and shiny as a tomato, others as rough and warty as a toad.

Spain

The first European record of the potato came in 1537 from the Spanish conquistador Castellanos, who discovered the tuber when his group raided a village in South America. After the potato was brought over to Spain, it gradually spread across Europe. Initially, the food was treated with distrust, and was believed to be unhealthy and even un-Christian. This prevented widespread acceptance for a period, although it began to be promoted as a medicinal plant.

Potato blossom

England

Popular legend has long credited Sir Walter Raleigh with first bringing the potato to England. History suggests Sir Francis Drake as a more likely candidate. In 1586, after battling the Spaniards in the Caribbean, Drake stopped at Cartagena in Colombia to collect provisions—including tobacco and potato tubers. Before returning to England, he stopped at Roanoke Island, where the first English settlers had attempted to set up a colony. The pioneers returned to England with Drake, along with the potatoes. Agriculturalists in Europe soon found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as wheat and oats; potatoes produce more food energy than any other European crop for the same area of land and require only a shovel for harvesting.

Ireland

Vincent Van Gogh, Basket of Potatoes, 1885

The potato became such an important food for the Irish that the popular imagination automatically associates the two today, but its early history in Ireland remains obscure. One speculation has it that the potato may have originally arrived in Ireland washed ashore from wrecked galleons of the Spanish Armada (1589). Another story credits the introduction of the potato in Ireland to Sir Walter Raleigh, a financier of transatlantic expeditions, at least one of which made landfall at Smerwick, County Kerry in October 1587. However, no record survives of what botanical specimens it may have carried or whether they thrived in Ireland. Some stories say that Raleigh first planted the potato on his estate near Cork. A 1699 source (over one century after the event) says, “The potato .... Was brought first out of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh, and he stopping at Ireland, some was planted there, where it thrived well and to good purpose, for in three succeeding wars, when all the corn above ground was destroyed, this supported them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not extirpate them” (Tomas 2003).

Whatever the source, the potato became popular in Ireland both because of its high productivity and because of the advantages of both growth and storage hidden underground. English landlords also encouraged potato-growing by Irish tenants because they wanted to produce more wheat—if the Irish could survive on a crop that took less land, that would free a greater area for wheat production. By 1650, potatoes had become a staple food of Ireland, and they began to replace wheat as the major crop elsewhere in Europe, serving to feed both people and animals.

A single devastating event, however, looms large in the Irish history of potatoes—the Irish potato famine. In the 1840s, a major outbreak of potato blight, a plant disease caused by a fungus, swept through Europe, wiping out the potato crop in many countries. The Irish working class lived largely on the unpalatable but fertile 'lumper,' and when the blight reached Ireland their main staple food disappeared.

Though Ireland grew a variety of crops at this time, most went as exports to Europe for sale at a higher price. In fact, during the Potato Famine, Ireland remained a net exporter of foodstuffs, being that the exported foods remained too expensive for the Irish themselves to afford. Historians continue to debate the roles that English rule and European market prices played in causing the famine. The potato, which was a blessing to Ireland because of its nutritional value coupled with the fact that many potatoes could be grown on small areas of land, became a problem when the people became overly dependent on it, with a homogenous diet.

Some misguided aspects of religion also played a role. Many of the Catholic Irish considered it the work of divine providence and just accepted their fate, and many of the non-Irish Protestants, particularly in England, as well as Irish Protestants, likewise considered it providence, caused by the Catholics for having a flawed religion. Some Protestants insisted on conversion prior to giving any food, even to those parents and children starving to death (Stitt 2006).

Ultimately, the famine led to almost a million deaths, and the subsequent emigration of millions more Irish. Over 18 percent of the population of Ireland died in 1847 and almost 18 percent in 1849. Emigration from the German states also grew, although central Europe did not suffer the mass starvation that occurred in Ireland.

Continental Europe

Vincent Van Gogh, Potato Eaters (oil on canvas, Nuenen, April 1885)

By the seventeenth century, the potato had become firmly established as a staple of Europe's poor, leading richer people to spurn it. This changed gradually, with Antoine-Augustin Parmentier's persuading King Louis XVI of France of the value of the crop that he was fed as a prisoner of Prussia during the Seven Year's War. The soup potage Parmentier and shepherd's pie hachis Parmentier take their names from the great horticulturist. By the end of the eighteenth century, the potato had become popular in France due to the advocacy of Parmentier.

Today, potatoes grow widely in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and other Northern or Eastern European nations, due to their ability to thrive in cold, damp climates. Potatoes figure in many national dishes of this region. Because the potato grew so well in Northern Europe, it may have contributed to the population explosion there in the nineteenth century.

In Russia, potatoes met with initial suspicion: the people called them "the Devil's apples" because of folklore surrounding things that grow underground or that have associations with dirt.

United States

Although potatoes were called "potatoes of the Virginia" by early English botanists, they were in fact from South America, not Virginia. The first mention of potatoes in North America comes in an account of Scots-Irish settlers in Londonderry, New Hampshire during 1719. Potatoes were used for food and as animal feed. The first potatoes planted in Idaho were in 1836, but it was not until after the development by Luther Burbank of the Russet potato that potatoes became a major Idaho crop, at the beginning of the twentieth century. While potatoes are grown commercially in at least 35 states, most potatoes are grown in the north. Idaho grows 30 percent of the total U.S. potato crop, Washington state another 20 percent; Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Colorado, and Oregon round out the top producers.

World Production

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the worldwide production of potatoes in 2005 was 322 million metric tons [1] which makes it the fifth highest production crop in the world.

A potato field in the United States

The leading producers of potatoes in 2005 were:

Country Production,
in million metric tons
China 73
Russia 36
India 25
Ukraine 19
United States 19
Germany 11
Poland 11

Nutrition

A variety of potatoes for sale in a supermarket

Potatoes are an important part of the diet in many countries, especially in Northern Europe and North America, and are featured in a number of their national dishes and most popular dishes. Potatoes are an excellent food providing carbohydrates, protein, vitamins (especially Vitamin C and Vitamin B6), and minerals (especially iron and potassium). Freshly harvested potatoes retain more vitamin C than stored potatoes. Potatoes contain almost no fat, and are low in calories. The skin of potatoes has dietary fiber and cooking potatoes in their skin tends to result in less leaching of vitamins and minerals.

The potassium and magnesium content, with low sodium content, helps in keeping blood pressure low. Magnesium also helps to prevent tissue calcification and in overcoming formation of stones in the bladder.

Potatoes (particularly mashed potatoes) are known to have a high Glycemic index (rate at which a food raises the blood sugar level), a disqualifying factor in many diets. New potatoes have a lower Glycemic index, as well as are higher in vitamin C.

New and fingerling potatoes offer the advantage that they contain fewer toxic chemicals. Such potatoes offer an excellent source of nutrition. Peeled, long-stored potatoes have less nutritional value, especially when fried, although they still have potassium and vitamin C.

Potatoes also provide starch, flour, alcohol dextrin (low-molecular-weight carbohydrates produced by the hydrolysis of starch), and livestock fodder.

Toxic compounds in potatoes

Potato plants

Potatoes contain glycoalkaloids, toxic compounds of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. Cooking at high temperatures (over 170 °C or 340 °F) partly destroys these. The concentration of glycoalkaloid in wild potatoes and raw potatoes suffices to produce toxic effects in humans. Glycoalkaloids occur in the greatest concentrations just underneath the skin of the tuber, and they increase with age and exposure to light. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, and cramps. Those with susceptibility may also experience migraines, even from a small amount of potatoes. In severe cases of poisoning, coma and death can occur; however, poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely. Light exposure also causes greening, thus giving a visual clue as to areas of the tuber that may have become more toxic; however, this does not provide a definitive guide, as greening and glycoalkaloid accumulation can occur independently of each other. Some varieties of potato contain greater glycoalkaloid concentrations than others; breeders developing new varieties test for this, and sometimes have to discard an otherwise promising cultivar.

Breeders try to keep solanine levels below 0.2 mg/g (200 ppmw). However, when even these commercial varieties turn green, they can approach concentrations of solanine of 1 mg/g (1,000 ppmw). Some studies suggest that 200 mg of solanine can constitute a dangerous dose. This dose would require eating one average-sized spoiled potato or four to nine good potatoes (over 3 pounds or 1.4 kg) at one time. The National Toxicology Program suggests that the average American consumes 12.5 mg/person/day of solanine from potatoes. Dr. Douglas L. Holt, the State Extension Specialist for Food Safety at the University of Missouri - Columbia, notes that no reported cases of potato-source solanine poisoning have occurred in the U.S. in the last 50 years and most cases involved eating green potatoes or drinking potato-leaf tea.

Solanine is also found in other plants, in particular the deadly nightshade. This poison affects the nervous system causing weakness and confusion.

Seed tuber with sprouts
Early Rose variety
File:IMG 5619.JPG
Potato Planting in the state of Washington

References and external links

  • Hamilton, A., and D. Hamilton. 2004. Potatoes - Solanum tuberosums (accessed on May 4, 2005).
  • Hijmans, R. J., and D. M. Spooner. 2001. Geographic distribution of wild potato species. American Journal of Botany 88: 2101-2112.
  • Houghton, C. S. 1978. Green Immigrants; The Plants that Transformed America. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
  • Ingram, C. 1996. The Vegetable Ingredients Cookbook. Lorenz Books. ISBN 1859672647
  • Salaman, R. N. 1985. The History and Social Influence of the Potato. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Spooner, D.M., et al. 2005. A single domestication for potato based on multilocus amplified fragment length polymorphism genotyping. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Published online before print October 3, 2005.
  • Stitt, S. 2006. The roles and attitudes of Irish Protestants during the Potato Famine. Irquas Insight 2. http://homepage.eircom.net/~archaeology/two/famine.htm.
  • Tomas, P. M. 2003. The potato in Irish history. [2]
  • Verrill, A. H. 1937. Foods America Gave the World Boston, MA: L. C. Page & Company.


Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.