The Potato

Since I'm still rolling with a vegetarian bent these days, I thought I'd do some didyaknow research and tell you a little something about our friend the Potato.

Potatoes are considered a friendly face and comfort food the world-round. You can bake it, boil it, stew it, fry it, roast it, toast it, steam it and microwave it.  You can slice and dice it, mash and grate it, scallop and peel it or serve it whole and skin-full  It's so very versatile and gets along with so many other foods, it's the kind of vegetable you'd like to take home to meet mom and dad.

Historically, the potato has a keen association with the Irish because of that big famine and stuff, but potatoes actually originated in the Andes of South America.  They were first domesticated in Peru between 8,000-5,000 BC.  It was only within the last 600 years they were introduced outside the Andes Region.  The Spanish brought the tubers home with them, where it is surmised that they planted their roadtrip leftovers from the return voyage and thus started potato cultivation in Europe around the late 16th century.

It took a while for the potato to catch on but by the 19th century they were everywhere.  Because of their slow spoilage rate, because they were bulk fillers (took away the hunger and made you feel full), and because they were so cheap to grow, they became the staple of many a poorer community throughout Europe.

Nowadays worldwide, there are 5,000 varieties of potatoes and 3,000 of them are found in the Andes Region alone.  This doesn't include the 200 wild species that exist.

One of the things I found interesting in my research is that the reason the blight that took out the potato crops in Europe in the mid- to late 1700s was so devastating is because potatoes were an imported crop.  Because they were imported there wasn't the genetic diversity or variety of potatoes at the time that might allow some crops to survive as others fell to disease.

Well that's not a happy note to end on so here, for your edification and amazement, are some interesting things I found out about potatoes.

▪ Idaho potatoes are gluten-free.
▪ Potatoes contain both simple and complex carbohydrates.
▪ A potatoes contains almost half of your Daily Recommended Allowance of Vitamin C (47%).
▪ The fiber content of potatoes is similar to that of grain breads, pastas and cereals.
▪ The nickname "spud" is believed to have been derived from the instrument used to dig up small potatoes, a short dagger called a "spyd" or "spad" (which is the Latin root word for sword).
▪ Blue potatoes have purple skin and flesh that turns blue when you cook them.
▪ Cooking swells the starch granuals in potatoes and that's what makes them edible.
▪ Chocolate drizzle and coconut are the most popular additions to potato candy (made from a mixture of mashed potatoes and confectioner's sugar).