How much did you know about Potato? Did you know that potato was the first food crop to be grown in space?
Potato is from the perennial Solanum tuberosum. It is the fourth largest food crop, after rice, wheat and maize. Over 4000 varieties of the potato are grown across the world, the commonest in America is the russet whereas in Africa, the sweet potato is highly traded.
History has it that the Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes around 8000 BC to 5000 BC. But in 1536 after the Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, they discovered the flavours of the potato and carried them to Europe.
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In 1589 potatoes was introduced to Cork, Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh, an English voyager and writer. About fourty years later, potato spread to the rest of Europe.
Eventually, agriculturists 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.
The Boom’s Period
Idaho, the present day largest producer of potatoes, did not actually begin growing potatoes until 1836, when the missionaries moved west in an effort to teach the native tribes to grow crops instead of relying upon hunting and gathering methods. In 1872 when the Russet Burbank variety was developed, Idaho potato industry began to flourish.
In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in space. US scientists from NASA and the University of Wisconsin developed the technology with the aim of feeding astronauts on long space voyages and eventually feeding future space colonies.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, “a diet of whole milk and potatoes would supply almost all of the food elements necessary for the maintenance of the human body.”
Discovery of the French Fries
The French King, Louis Philippe who reigned between 1830 and 1848 had a Chef named Collinet. One night, Collinet had the intention of serving his master a hot delicious meal when he accidentally created soufflés or puffed potatoes. He came about this by plunging already fried potatoes into extremely hot oil to reheat them. To the chef’s surprise and the king’s delight the potatoes puffed up like balloons.
In 1853, US railroad magnet, Connilele Vanderbilt visited a resort in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was served hot salty crispy by Chef, George Crum who got embittered by Vanderbilt’s initial impression. To everyone’s surprise Vanderbilt loved his Saragoata Crunch chips. Since then potato chips have been popular.
Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing “french fries” to America when he served them at a White House dinner.