The history of the potato
I noticed a thread about cheese - and much as I love cheese, it doesn't come anywhere near the potato in my affections. The potato is by far the foodstuff that thrills me the most, and here's why.
Who knows where it all actually started - but what we do know is that some 7000 years ago pre-columbian farmers were cultivating potatoes. 15,000 feet up in the thin air of the Andes amongst fluctuating temperatures and poor soil the potato dug in and flourished. The Incas domesticated the tuber and cultivated many shapes, sizes and colours of potato ranging from orange, pink, blue, green, brown white and black. The fact that from a crop of potatoes one could keep one single fruit - let it germinate and plant it and it would quickly produce a whole new bushel seemed like a miracle to the Incas. They treated the potato as a gift from the gods dedicating ceremonies to it and (quite rightly) making it an object of worship.
The Spanish hauled it over the Atlantic around 1570 to Europe but it was still considered a food for the poor, used to feed hospital inmates. It remained a curiosity cultivated by botanists right through till around 1780 when those canny Celts the Irish adopted it as a crop. Full of vitamins and hardy as all hell the potato can feed 10 people per acre of land. Remarkable!
And that's just the beginning of the thrilling story of the potato, I may continue this exciting tale later….