POTATOES
HISTORY
The potato, from the perennial Solanum tuberosum, is the world’s fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize. The Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8,000 BC to 5,000 B.C.
In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, discovered the flavors of the potato, and carried them to Europe. Before the end of the sixteenth century, families of Basque sailors began to cultivate potatoes along the Biscay coast of northern Spain. Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589 on the 40,000 acres of land near Cork. It took nearly four decades for the potato to spread to the rest of Europe.
Eventually, agriculturalists in Europe found potatoes easier to grow and cultivate than other staple crops, such as wheat and oats. Most importantly, it became known that potatoes contained most of the vitamins needed for sustenance, and they could be provided to nearly 10 people for each acre of land cultivated.
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 potatoes and when the blight reached Ireland, their main staple food disappeared. This famine left many poverty-stricken families with no choice but to struggle to survive or emigrate out of Ireland. Over the course of the famine, almost one million people died from starvation or disease. Another one million people left Ireland, mostly for Canada and the United States.
Today the potato is the fifth most important crop worldwide, after wheat, corn, rice and sugar cane. But in the 18th century the tuber was a startling novelty, frightening to some, bewildering to others—part of a global ecological convulsion set off by Christopher Columbus.
About 250 million years ago, the world consisted of a single giant landmass now known as Pangaea. Geological forces broke Pangaea apart, creating the continents and hemispheres familiar today. Over the eons, the separate corners of the earth developed wildly different suites of plants and animals. Columbus’ voyages reknit the seams of Pangaea, to borrow a phrase from Alfred W. Crosby, the historian who first described this process. In what Crosby called the Columbian Exchange, the world’s long-separate ecosystems abruptly collided and mixed in a biological bedlam that underlies much of the history we learn in school. The potato flower in Louis XVI’s buttonhole, a species that had crossed the Atlantic from Peru, was both an emblem of the Columbian Exchange and one of its most important aspects.
Compared with grains, tubers are inherently more productive. If the head of a wheat or rice plant grows too big, the plant will fall over, with fatal results. Growing underground, tubers are not limited by the rest of the plant. In 2008 a Lebanese farmer dug up a potato that weighed nearly 25 pounds. It was bigger than his head.
NUTRITION
– An excellent source of vitamin C
– A good source of potassium (more than a banana!)
– A good source of vitamin B6
– Fat-, sodium- and cholesterol-free
– Only 110 calories per serving
Potatoes provide the carbohydrate, potassium and energy that we need to perform at our best. More energy-packed than any other popular vegetable, potatoes have even more potassium than a banana. Plus, there’s a potato option to fuel your body and brain throughout the day — whether you lead an active lifestyle or are competing with elite athletes.
TYPE OF POTATOES
Fingerling potato: With thin, tender skins and small size, fingerling potatoes are not new potatoes. Rather, they are cultivars of potatoes—often of heritage varieties—bred to naturally grow to only a small size and narrow width. Unlike new potatoes, fingerlings are harvested at maturity, which means that they have time to develop more complexity of flavor—sometimes described as “nutty”—and that they store well. You can find them in a variety of colors, including yellow, orange, red, blue/purple, and of course white. Popular varieties include the Russian Banana, French (orange skin), Butterfinger, Purple Peruvian, Red Thumb and the LaRatte.
Finnish yellow wax potato: This waxy potato has deep yellow flesh. Its rich taste and “buttery” appearance may convince you to forgo butter.
Long russet potato: Typified by the Russet Burbank, these are the favorites among baking potatoes and are the leading variety grown. Most “Idaho” baking potatoes are Russet Burbanks. These large, oval-shaped potatoes, which can weigh up to 18 ounces each, have a hard brown skin and starchy flesh. Typical of a russet is a fine netting pattern over the skin called “russeting.”
Long white potato: The White Rose is one of the better-known varieties of all-purpose potatoes. When new, they are thin-skinned and waxy; when mature, they are starchy and weigh an average of half a pound.
Round red potato: These red, smooth-skinned boiling potatoes, notably the Red LaSoda and Red Pontiac, are most commonly sold “new” or small. But they are also available in larger sizes.
THANK YOU
SOURCES :
http://www.berkeleywellness.com/healthy-eating/food/article/types-potatoes
http://www.thekitchn.com/potato-varieties-64061
https://www.potatogoodness.com/potato-fun-facts-history/
https://www.potatogoodness.com/potato-fun-facts-history/
Komentar
Posting Komentar