Classified as a
vegetable, potatoes help contribute to the minimum goal of eating five servings
of fruits and vegetables per day, recommended by the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid.
The National Cancer Institute recommends increasing consumption of fruits and
vegetables to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as cancer.
Origin of the Potato
Where Did Potatoes Come From?
The
Andean
Mountains
of
South America
is the birthplace of the
"Irish" white potato that we eat today. The Aymara Indians developed
over two hundred varieties on the Titicaca Plateau at elevations above 10,000
feet. They were the innovators of the freeze-dried potato, or chuño.
Inge Schjellerup, in The Cultivated Wild One, describes how chuño is
made:
“Chuño”
is
still produced as it was at the time of the Incas. The potatoes are spread on
the ground on frosty nights. During the day they are covered with straw to
protect against the burning rays of the sun. This way the potatoes go completely
white. After exposure to several nights of frost, women and children trample on
the potatoes to get rid of moisture and wear away the peel. The potatoes are
then put in a stream with running water for a few weeks in order to wash out the
bitter taste. Finally they're dried for about 14 days and can be stored without
problems for up to 4 years."
Pictured
is a Peruvian potato god embossed on a leather plaque of the Nazca culture circa
400 AD. The potato god can be seen holding a potato plant in each hand; one can
easily see the eyes of the potatoes on each plant. The plaque is on loan from
Masa Tsukamoto.
The
influence of potatoes permeated the Incan culture. Potato-shaped potteries
complete with eyes are commonly found at excavated sites, sometimes with tiny
heads growing out of the little eyes. Incan units of time correlated to how long
it took for a potato to cook to various consistencies. Potatoes were even used
to divine the truth and predict weather.
A Brief
History of the Potato
Potatoes
have been one of mankind's most important food staples for the past millennium.
First cultivated in the Andes
Mountains
of Peru
and Bolivia
they formed the basis of the Inca
diet.
The
Spanish Conquistador Pedro Cieza de Leon in his journal “Chronicle of Peru”
wrote the first recorded information about potatoes in 1553. The Conquistadors
didn't find the gold and silver they were looking for but quickly cornered the
local potato market. Potatoes were soon a standard supply item on the Spanish
ships; they noticed that the sailors who ate papas (potatoes) did not suffer
from scurvy.
No
one knows exactly when potatoes were first planted in European soil but in 1573,
records of a Spanish hospital in Seville
show that sacks of potatoes were
ordered for provisions. The potato was somewhat slow to catch on, in part
because people realized that it was a member of the nightshade family, all of
which are very poisonous. At about the same time, some historians have written
that Sir Francis Drake brought back some potatoes from a trip to the
West Indies. If so, these were probably part of
the stores of a Spanish ship he had fought with. The potatoes were given to Sir
Walter Raleigh, and were cultivated at both his estates in Ireland
and, later on, Virginia.
Potato
cultivation spread to the low countries and
Switzerland. With its introduction to
Germany
in the 1620's, the nutritional
properties of the potato were finally acknowledged.
Frederick
the Great, the Prussian ruler, ordered
his people to plant and eat them as a deterrent to famine, a common and
recurrent problem of that period. The people's fear of poisoning led him to
enforce his orders by threatening to cut off the nose and ears of those who
refused. Not surprisingly, this was effective and by the time of the Seven Years
War (1756-1763), potatoes were a basic part of the Prussian diet.
A
similar story occurred in France. A young French agriculturist and
chemist, Antoine Augustin Parmentier, made it his mission to popularize the
potato after his experience as prisoner of war in
Prussia. With some clever marketing to King
Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and subtle scheming to convert the thinking of
the populace, Parmentier achieved his goals. Potato dishes were created in great
variety and the potato became a delicacy enjoyed by the nobility. The French
populace soon coveted potatoes for themselves.
The
potato quickly took the place of other crops as a food staple because it was a
more reliable crop than wheat, which suffered as a food crop when the damp
climates of
Europe
prevented proper ripening. Potatoes
furthered both an agrarian revolution already underway in the early 17th century
and a population increase in
Europe
in the 17th and 18th Centuries. As a
result, more and more farmers were drawn from subsistence farming into
profit-driven economies. The agrarian revolution, stimulated by the potato, was
an integral stimulus to the Industrial Revolution
European
immigrants introduced potatoes to
North America
several times throughout the 1600s,
but they were not widely grown for almost a century. Not until 1719, when Irish
immigrants brought the potato to Londonderry
,
New Hampshire, were potatoes grown on a large scale.
Again, potatoes were slow to gain popularity. Even when they became the second
largest food crop in America, they
were still used primarily as animal fodder.
Famine in
Ireland
Ironically,
the dependable potato, which had saved so many lives and helped to further
significant population increases throughout Europe, was responsible for one of
the most horrifying famines of the last 200 years. Introduced into
Ireland
in the mid-1700's, the potato proved
to be an ideal crop for its environment. Though the island gets an average 60
inches of precipitation each year, it is mostly in the form of soft mist showers
which both keeps the air cool and the soil moist.
By
the 1800s, Irish peasants were eating a daily average of 10 potatoes per person.
The potatoes supplied about 80% of the calories in their diet. The peasants used
potato fodder to feed their animals, animals, which provided milk, meat and eggs
to supplement the peasants' diet. This dependence on one food crop was
dangerous, but no other crop had ever proved to be as reliable.
In
the 1840s, disaster struck. Three successive years of late blight (the
microscopic fungus Phytophthora Infestans) and heavy rains rotted the potato
crops in the ground. Without potatoes, both the peasants and animals went
hungry. And when the animals died for lack of food, milk, meat and eggs were no
longer available. More than one million of Ireland's 8 million inhabitants died of
starvation; almost 2 million emigrated. The population of Ireland
was reduced by almost one-fourth (and
has never regained its former numbers to this day).
We
know now that genetic diversity might have mitigated this disaster but this was
not recognized at the time. Late blight and famine were not isolated to
Ireland; the European continent was subjected
to the same wet and cold weather, and had the same poor crops. The new field of
plant pathology was stimulated by these disasters. The German botanist Heinrich
Anton de Bary published his findings on the complete life cycle of Phytophthora
Infestans in 1861. This was one of the first times that a fungus was identified
as the cause of a plant disease. During the same period, people discovered
several ways to control the disease, using lime in combination with either
sulfur or copper sulfate (a Bordeaux mixture).
Today,
scientists are constantly developing and studying new and different varieties to
prevent a disaster like this from happening again, especially in
Third World
countries
where the potato is, or could be, an important staple.
The
Burbank
Russet
At
the same time potatoes soared in popularity as a food staple in Europe, their
popularity soared in the U.S. Known as the "Irish potato", potatoes
were soon grown in every state in the Union.
Seeking
to improve the "Irish potato", the self-taught and brilliant American
horticulturist Luther Burbank took the first step. Growing twenty-three
seedlings from an Early Rose parent, he discovered that one seedling produced
two to three times more tubers of better size than any other potato variety he
had yet grown. After testing this new variety,
Burbank
marketed the seedling he called the
Burbank
to the West Coast states in the late
1800's.
Cultivation
of the
Burbank
spread throughout the Western States.
Within a few short years, a mutation of the
Burbank
was discovered in
Colorado, which appeared to be more
disease-resistant. The mutation had rough, reticulated skin and was named the
Burbank Russet. The state of Idaho
made it
famous.
Idaho
Idaho
has a perfect environment for growing
potatoes, especially the Russet. Its hot days, cool nights and high-altitude
closely resembles the potato's original growing environment. Because
Idaho's fields are irrigated, the potato
plant's requirement for high soil moisture content can be met. Further,
Idaho's volcanic soil mimics that of the Andes; the light ash of which it is made
meeting the third growing requirement of the potato.
Though
the Russet's growing requirements were a perfect match with
Idaho's climate and soil, it took a few
years for
Idaho
farmers to make the discovery. In the
late 1800s, the most commonly grown potato varieties in
Idaho
were those, which were popular in
eastern
United States. But
Idaho's soil and climate are not optimum for
growing eastern varieties. These varieties were susceptible to scab and harvest
quality began to decline. The subsequent soil infection resulted in a search for
a replacement potato.
By
the early 1900s, the Russet Burbank began appearing throughout
Idaho. It seemed to be more resistant to
scab as well as to other diseases. But growing a quality Russet was a bit more
complicated than that, as Idaho
farmers soon discovered.
The
Russet was much more particular in its plant spacing and water requirements.
Much experimentation, study and skill was required to grow a perfectly formed,
smooth, russeted tuber. Tubers will become knobby and misshapen with too much or
too little water, or if the plants are spaced too near together or too far
apart. The farmers in
Idaho
were willing to work together to share
the knowledge they had and, for several years, harvests of quality Russet
Burbanks improved.
Idaho
potato growers began establishing a
reputation for quality Russets all across the United States. Then, once again, harvest quality
began to decline.
Joe
Marshall, a potato farmer in
Ashton
,
Idaho
, soon realized what the new problem
was. At that time, farmers seeded their new fields using the poor-quality cull
potatoes left in the fields.
Marshall
realized that this practice was
responsible for decreased potato quality, poor harvests, and spread of disease.
He established the certified (disease-free) seed program used in
Idaho
in which farmers use high-quality seed
potatoes for planting instead of cull potatoes. Production took a giant leap
forward.
Today,
Idaho's reputation as the leading producer
of quality potatoes has been established. The Idaho
potato
sets the standard for the industry.
Washington
State
Washington
State
is known as "Potato Country
U.S.A.". The climatic conditions, rich
volcanic soil, abundant water and long growing season results in eastern Washington
State
producing the highest per acre yields
of potatoes in the world. Though the number of commercial growers numbers less
than 425, together they plant more than 100,000 acres annually, harvesting up to
540 cwt per acre, twice as much as the average yield in the
United States.
Washington
State
produces 18% of all
U.S.
potatoes.
The
Washington State Potato Commission finances one of the largest, most
comprehensive, potato research programs in the
United States. Scientific research and study is done
in conjunction with
Washington
State
University. To date, the total research
investment has been well over $20,000,000.
Mr.
Potato Head is standing atop
Washington
’s Mount
Rainier. You may notice that he is a little out of breath – standing at
14,410’ above sea level tends to do that to you.
Widespread
potato production in eastern
Washington
is a relatively recent phenomenon. It
was not possible earlier in the 1900's because of a lack of sufficient
irrigation. The first step to resolve this was the one million-acre Columbia
Basin Irrigation Project. Its goal was to provide cheap and dependable
hydroelectric power and a constant supply of irrigation water to growers. Though
the Grand Coulee Dam on the
Columbia River
was completed in 1941, irrigators had
to wait until 1949 and 1950 for enough water to irrigate their fields. Outside
the project, individual growers have developed another one-half million acres of
well-irrigated land.
In
1982, to better address the geographic aspects of shipping from a far western
location,
Washington
packers formed an association to
negotiate more favorable freight rates with carriers. Better rail rates were
also gained. Today,
Washington
potatoes are shipped to all parts of
the
United States
and exported to the world marketplace.
The
Columbia Basin Project development is only half-complete. A half-million acres
of rich volcanic loam is still available for development, ensuring that
Washington
State
will continue to be known as
"Potato Country, U.S.A.".
Potatoes Today
In
the 1950s, potato consumption began to drop in the United States. It had risen steadily for over one
hundred years but began to drop off with the advent of convenience foods and the
mistaken idea that potatoes were fattening. Then food researchers began to
develop various kinds of processed potatoes. Techniques such as dehydrofreezing
(freeze-drying), explosion puffing, and using infrared light to create a kind of
seal on the tissue of the potato were developed. By the late 1950s, consumption
was on the rise again.
Picture
to the left are colorful varieties of South American potatoes.
Potato Costs
U.S. Vice President his job
Kid Knows More Than
Vice President About Potato
Six years out of office with two failed presidential bids now behind
him, ex Vice President Quayle still ranks as
America’s favorite dumb politician because of what
happened in Trenton
on June 15, 1992.
That’s the day, a Trenton
sixth grader had to teach the Vice President of
the United States
that potato is not spelled with an “e” on
the end.
The incredible irony of this
whole situation is that Dan Quayle received a journalism degree from college.
Doesn’t a college journalism education require some spelling and writing of
basic words? This “college education” deferment is what kept him from having
to serve in Vietnam War.
In his 1994 memoir, Quayle devotes a whole chapter to the events in a
classroom at Trenton’s
Munoz
Rivera
School
— and the impact of them on his career. "It
was a defining moment of the worst kind imaginable,’’ Quayle wrote in
the autobiography. "Politicians live and die by the symbolic sound bite.’’
Quayle ruefully reported on a Washington Post article that suggested the Trenton
flub got such wide media play because "it seemed like a perfect
illustration of what people thought about me anyway.’’
Less than five months after the incident, Quayle and President Bush were voted
out of office, replaced by Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Ever since, the ex VP has
been a straight-faced political joke.
In the book, Quayle said he knew little about the stop in Trenton, other than it was to help spotlight the
city’s Weed and Seed program, which still provides anti-drug education to
grade-schoolers while they also are being watched by adults until their parents
get home from work.
When he got the Munoz
Rivera
School, Quayle spoke with some women involved in the
program, saw a drill team perform and looked in on some self-esteem classes
before his aides started hustling him off to another classroom for a staged
spelling bee.
"What are we supposed to do?’’ I asked Keith Nahigian, the
advance man who had prepared this little photo op,’’ Quayle wrote. "Just
sit there and read these words off some flash cards, and the kids will go up and
spell them at the blackboard,’’ the handler told the VP. "Has
anyone checked the card?’’ another aide asked. "Oh, yeah,’’
responded Nahigian. "We looked at them and they’re just very simple
words. No big deal.’’
Enter William Figueroa, 12, a sixth-grader from the Mott School in the South
Ward who had been bused to Munoz Rivera to take part in the vice presidential
event.
Figueroa knew how to spell potato, and he wrote it in a legible script on the
blackboard when Quayle announced his word for the spelling bee. Quayle looked at
the blackboard, then at his contest card, and gently and quietly told the boy,
"You’re close, but you left a little something off. The ‘e’ on the
end.”
"So, William, against his better judgment and trying to be polite, added
an e’’ and won applause for it from those assembled in the classroom,
including Mayor Doug Palmer, Quayle wrote.
The misspelling wasn’t mentioned until the end of the press conference
afterward, when one reporter asked Quayle, "How do you spell potato?’’
"I gave him a puzzled look, and then the press started laughing. It
wasn’t until that moment that I realized anything was wrong,’’ Quayle
wrote, "None of the staff
people had told me. Caught off guard, I just rattled on a little to fill the air
— something about how I wasn’t going to get into spelling matters — but I
knew something was really amiss.’’
The next day, after his father sent him for a haircut and warned him to speak a
bit more diplomatically about the vice president of the United
States, Figueroa made his national television debut.
The Trenton
kid wowed the Letterman audience. He told of the
spelling bee, saying, "I knew he was wrong, but since he’s the Vice
President I went back to the blackboard and put an ‘e’ on the end and went
back to my seat. Afterward, I went to the dictionary and there
was potato, like I spelled it". Figueroa wouldn’t call Quayle an
"idiot’’ again, in deference to his father, William Collazo and
Palmer, who had called the boy’s mother and warned that funds for Weed and
Seed could be cut off if the VP got mad enough. "I know he’s not an
idiot,’’ he told the goading Letterman, "but he needs to study
more. Do you have to go to college to be Vice President?’’
From then on, the potato incident became a campaign weapon for the
Democrats backing
Clinton
and Gore. Figueroa was flown in to deliver the pledge of allegiance at the
Democratic National Convention that summer!
Image-conscious Quayle laughed it off on the outside. But as his book
indicates, he was fuming mad about the gaffe and blamed his aides for letting it
happen and the press for exploiting it.
Quayle tried to make light of it, by pointing out that Gore said in a speech that a leopard had changed its "stripes’’.
Quayle said that if it would have been him saying that, "there would have been a week of Quayle
jokes on the late-night shows and three dozen editorial cartoons set inside
zoos.’’
The media’s "obsession with my small verbal blunders went beyond the
bounds of fairness,’’ Quayle complained in his book.
Now, fast forward five years to 1997 and catch up with William Figueroa to see
how he was doing after his hour of fame. By then, he was a 17-year-old high
school dropout, who had fathered a child and was working a low-paying job at an
auto showroom.
Quayle, Mr. Family Values, couldn’t be reached for comment on what had become
of his "potato’’ nemesis and how that relates to a college
education.
