The History of the Potato

[Kintenbo]

Potato

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Potato (informally tattie, tater, spud, tato, pota, spudzie or tate) is the term which applies either to the starchy, tuberous root vegetable crop from the various subspecies of the perennial plant Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, or to the plant itself. In the region of the Andes, the word is also used to refer to other closely-related species of the genus Solanum. Potato is the world's most widely grown tuber crop, and the fourth largest food crop in terms of fresh produce — after rice, wheat, and maize (corn).

Endemic species diversity demonstrates that the potato originated in the area of contemporary Peru and Bolivia,[1] identified more specifically in research published by David Spooner in 2005 as an area of southern Peru, just north of Lake Titicaca.[2] The potato was introduced to Europe in 1536[3], and subsequently by European mariners to territories and ports throughout the world.[4] Thousands of varieties persist in the Andes, where over 100 varieties might be found in a single valley, and a dozen or more might be maintained by a single agricultural household.[5]

Though evidence ranging from historical records, local agriculturalists, and DNA analyses strongly supports the hypothesis that the most widely cultivated variety of potato worldwide, Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, is indigenous to Chiloé Archipelago and has been cultivated by the local indigenous people since before the coming of the Spanish. Today, over 99% of all cultivated potato varieties worldwide are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to South-Central Chile.[6] [7]

Once established in Europe, the potato soon became an important food staple and field crop. Lack of genetic diversity, due to the fact that very few varieties were initially introduced, left the crop vulnerable to disease. In 1845, a fungal disease, Phytophthora infestans, also known as late blight, spread rapidly through the poorer communities of western Ireland, resulting in the Great Irish Famine. The potato is also strongly associated with Idaho, Maine, Washington, North Dakota, Prince Edward Island, Ireland, Jersey and Russia because of its large role in the agricultural economy and history of these regions. But in recent decades, the greatest expansion of potato has been in Asia, where as of 2007 approximately eighty percent of the world potato crop is grown. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, China has become the world's largest potato producer,[4] followed by India.[8]

Etymology

The English word potato comes from Spanish patata (the name used in Spain). The Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taino batata (sweet potato) and the Quechua papa (potato).[9] This probably indicates that originally, the potato was regarded as a type of sweet potato rather than the other way around, despite the fact that there is actually no close relationship between the two plants at all.

In Hindi, the potato is called aloo, but in other North Indian languages, including Gujarati, the potato is called bataka or batata.

Serbian and Slovenian krompir, Romanian cartof, Ukrainian картопля (kartóplja), Bulgarian картоф (kartof), Russian картофель (kartofel), German and Danish kartoffel, Icelandic kartafla, Latvian kartupelis and Estonian kartul all derive from the Italian word tartufoli, which was given to potato because of its similarity to truffles (Italian: tartufo). Although the current Italian term for the potato is patata.

Another common name is "ground apple": pomme de terre in French, aardappel in Dutch, תפוח אדמה in Hebrew (often written just as פוד), and Erdapfel in Austrian German. An analogous name is Finnish as peruna, which comes from the old Swedish term jordpäron "earth pear". In 16th century French, pomme meant "fruit", thus pomme de terre meant "ground fruit" and was probably literally loan translated to other languages when potatoes were introduced. In Polish potato is called just ziemniaki, and in Slovak zemiak, from the word for "ground". In several northern Indian languages and in Nepali the potato is called alu/aloo and in Indonesian kentang.

Different names for the potato developed in China's various regions, the most widely used names in standard Chinese today are "horse-bell yam" (马铃薯 - mǎlíngshǔ), "earth bean" (土豆 - tǔdòu), and "foreign taro" (洋芋 - yángyù).

Potato plants grow high to the ground and bear yellow to silver flowers with yellow stamens.

Potatoes are cross-pollinated mostly by bumblebees that carry pollen from other potato plants, but a substantial amount of self-fertilizing occurs as well. Any potato variety can also be propagated vegetatively by planting tubers, pieces of tubers, cut to include at least one or two eyes, or also by cuttings, a practice used in greenhouses for the production of healthy seed tubers.

Some commercial potato varieties do not produce seeds at all (they bear imperfect flowers) and are propagated only from tuber pieces. Confusingly, these tubers or tuber pieces are called "seed potatoes".

After potato plants flower, some varieties will produce small green fruits that resemble green cherry tomatoes, each containing up to 300 true seeds. By finely chopping the fruit and soaking it in water, the seeds will separate from the flesh by sinking to the bottom after about a day (the remnants of the fruit will float). All new potato varieties are grown from seeds, also called "true seed" or "botanical seed" to distinguish it from seed tubers. Potato fruit contains large amounts of the toxic alkaloid solanine, and is therefore unsuitable for consumption.

There is general agreement among contemporary botanists that potato species originated in the Andes, all the way from Colombia and Venezuela to Chile and northern Argentina, but with a concentration of genetic diversity, both in the form of cultivated and wild species, in the area of modern day Peru. The evidence thus far shows that the potato was first cultivated in Peru some 7,000 years ago. The first European description of the potato was in Pedro Cieza de León's Crónica del Perú (Seville 1533). About the same time the potato was introduced into cultivation in Spain, under its Quechua name, papa. A notice of 1573 shows that potatoes were being fed to the sick in a monastery of Seville, still under their Quechua name.

Outside Spain, the potato was a botanical curiosity, judged to be poisonous by the knowledgeable, for its clear relation to Deadly Nightshade. It was introduced in France about 1540 and cultivated at Saint-Alban-d'Ay under the name truffole. It made its first appearance in botanical literature in Gaspard Bauhin's Pinax Theatri Botanici, 1596. Olivier de Serres described the cartoufle in 1600, declaring "This plant called cartoufle carries fruits of the same name, similar to truffles."[10]

The Andean Solanum tuberosum ssp. andigena was the variety first introduced to Europe and dominated European production until a few decades before the Irish Potato Famine, according to recently-published DNA analysis. The same research shows that in the early 19th century, the Chilean Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum, adapted to long-day growing conditions, was introduced to Europe. It quickly replaced the Andean short-day variety.[7]

The potato was grown and eaten in northern Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Russia. Popular history credits Sir Walter Raleigh with its introduction to Great Britain and Ireland, although one of his men, Thomas Harriott, is also credited[11]. Only in France was it considered merely animal feed. It introduction to the French kitchen is legitimately credited to Antoine Parmentier, who had been forcibly introduced to it during a period of military captivity in Prussia during the Seven Years' War. Following local shortages in 1769, the Academy of Besançon conducted a competition in 1771 on the theme of vegetables that could supplement those commonly in use during years of want, and what would be their preparation. Parmentier won first prize, among several who were recommending the potato. His stratagem for introducing it among French peasants has become legend; he had a field of potatoes grown near Paris watched (lightly) by royal troops, as if it were a delicacy fit only for nobles' tables. The local peasantry managed to steal samples and the potato was launched in French cuisine, where potato dishes are still styled "à la Parmentier".

Historical and genetic evidence suggests that the potato reached India not very much later than Europe, taken there by either the British or the Portuguese. Genetic studies show that all 32 varieties of potato grown in India derive from the Chilean subspecies.[12] The earliest unequivocal reference to the potato in India is in an 1847 British journal.[13]

The potatoes cultivated in the Andes are not all the same species. However, the major species grown worldwide is Solanum tuberosum (a tetraploid with 48 chromosomes). Modern varieties of this species are the most widely cultivated worldwide. There are also four diploid species (with 24 chromosomes): Solanum stenotomum, Solanum phureja, Solanum goniocalyx and Solanum ajanhuiri. There are two triploid species (with 36 chromosomes): Solanum chaucha and Solanum juzepczukii. There is one pentaploid cultivated species (with 60 chromosomes): Solanum curtilobum.

There are two major subspecies of Solanum tuberosum: andigena, or Andean; and tuberosum, or Chilean.[14] The Andean potato is adapted to the short-day conditions prevalent in the mountainous equatorial and tropical regions where it originated. The Chilean potato is adapted to the long-day conditions prevalent in the higher latitude region of southern Chile, especially on Chiloe Island where it is thought to have originated.[15]

There are about five thousand potato varieties world wide. Three thousand of them are found in the Andes alone, mainly in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile and Colombia. They belong to eight or nine species, depending on the taxonomic school. Apart from the five thousand cultivated varieties, there are about 200 wild species and subspecies, many of which can be cross-bred with cultivated varieties, which has been done repeatedly to transfer resistances to certain pests and diseases from the gene pool of wild species to the gene pool of cultivated potato species.

Potatoes are occasionally referred to as Irish potatoes in the English speaking world because in the earliest years, this signified a distinction from sweet potatoes. Potatoes were widely grown in Ireland after they were introduced, but in 1845, potato blight devastated the crop, precipitating the six-year-long Great Irish Famine.

Most modern potatoes grown in North America arrived through European settlement and not independently from the South American sources. However, at least one wild potato species, Solanum fendleri, is found as far north as Texas and used in breeding for resistance to a nematode species attacking cultivated potatoes. A secondary center of genetic variability of the potato is Mexico, where important wild species are found that have been used extensively in modern breeding, such as the hexaploid Solanum demissum, as a source of resistance to the devastating late blight disease. Another plant native to this region, Solanum bulbocastanum, a close relative of the potato, has been used to genetically engineer the potato to effectively resist potato blight.[16]

The potato became an important staple crop in northern Europe as the climate changed due to the Little Ice Age, when traditional crops in this region did not produce as reliably as before. At times when and where most other crops would fail, potatoes could still typically be relied upon to contribute adequately to food supplies during the colder years. The potato was not popular in France during this time, and it is believed that some of the infamous famines could have been lessened if French farmers had adopted it. Today, the potato forms an important part of the traditional cuisines of most of Europe. Belarus has the highest consumption of potato per capita with each Belorussian consuming 338 kg in 2005.[17][18]

[canas is back]

PO-TA-TOES

boil em mash m stick em in a stew

[Liz]

do you mean tomatoes?

[Serene]

The history of potato's.

You grow them, you eat them

TA-FUCKIN-DA

[Kintenbo]

do you mean tomatoes?

Good idea, lass!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins tobacco, chili peppers, potato, and eggplant. It is a perennial, often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual, typically reaching to 1-3m (3 to 10 ft) in height, with a weak, woody stem that often vines over other plants.

The leaves are 10–25 cm long, odd pinnate, with 5–9 leaflets on petioles,[1] each leaflet up to 8cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1–2cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3–12 together.

The tomato is native to Central, South, and southern North America from Mexico to Argentina. There is evidence that the first domesticated tomato was a little yellow fruit, ancestor of L. cerasiforme, grown by the Aztecs in Mexico, who called it xitomatl (pronounced shi-to-ma-tlh), meaning "plump thing with a navel". The word tomato comes from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl. The specific name, lycopersicum, means "wolf-peach" (compare the related species Solanum lycocarpum, whose scientific name means "wolf-fruit", common name "wolf-apple"), as they are a major food of wild canids in South America.

According to Andrew F Smith's The Tomato in America[2], the tomato probably originated in the highlands of the west coast of South America. Smith notes there is no evidence the tomato was cultivated or even eaten in Peru before the Spanish arrived, while other researchers have pointed out that many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the very limited historical record[citation needed].

There is a competing hypothesis that the plant, like the word "tomato", originated in Mexico, where one of the two apparently oldest "wild" types grows. It is entirely possible that domestication arose in both regions independently. Diversity data suggests the center of diversity for wild tomatoes is located in Peru, while that of cultivated tomatoes, in Mexico.[citation needed] Thus, it can be hypothesized that wild tomatoes were introduced from Peru to Mexico, where they were domesticated.

In any case, by some means the tomato migrated to Central America. Mayans and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking, and it was being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by the 16th Century. It is thought that the Pueblo people believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination.[citation needed] The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated and was encouraged in Central America. Smith states this variant is the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.

Two modern tomato cultivar groups, one represented by the Matt's Wild Cherry tomato, the other by currant tomatoes, originate by recent domestication of the wild tomato plants apparently native to eastern Mexico.

[edit] Spanish distribution

After the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean. They also took it to the Philippines, whence it moved to southeast Asia and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, though it was certainly being used as food by the early 1600s in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. However, in certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as tabletop decoration before it was ever incorporated into the local cuisine until the late 17th or early 18th century.

Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s, according to Smith. One of the earliest cultivators was John Gerard, a barber-surgeon. Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597 and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew that the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed that it was poisonous[citation needed] (tomato leaves and stems actually contain poisonous glycoalkaloids, but the fruit is safe). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain and its North American colonies.

But by the mid-1700s, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain; and before the end of that century, the Encyclopædia Britannica stated that the tomato was "in daily use" in soups, broths, and as a garnish. In Victorian times, cultivation reached an industrial scale in glasshouses, most famously in Worthing. Pressure for housing land in the 1930s to 1960s saw the industry move west to Littlehampton, and to the market gardens south of Chichester. Over the past 15 years, the British tomato industry has declined as more competitive imports from Spain and the Netherlands have reached the supermarkets.

[edit] North America

The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. It is possible that some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plants than as food. Cultured people like Thomas Jefferson, who ate tomatoes in Paris and sent some seeds home, knew the tomato was edible, but many of the less well-educated did not.

[edit] Production trends

125 million tons of tomatoes were produced in the world in 2005. China, the largest producer, accounted for about one-fourth of the global output, followed by United States and Turkey.

According to FAOSTAT, the top producers of tomatoes (in tonnes) in 2005 were:

The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size from cherry tomatoes, about the same 1–2 cm size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 cm or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5–6 cm diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit; but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning are often elongated, 7–9 cm long and 4–5 cm diameter; they are known as plum tomatoes.

Tomatoes are one of the most common garden fruits in the United States and, along with zucchini, have a reputation for outproducing the needs of the grower.

As in most sectors of agriculture, there is increasing demand in developed countries for organic tomatoes, as well as heirloom tomatoes, to make up for flavor and texture faults in commercial tomatoes[citation needed]. Quite a few seed merchants and banks provide a large selection of heirloom seeds. Tomato seeds are occasionally organically produced as well, but only a small percentage of organic crop area is grown with organic seed.

[Solanum Tuberosum]

DO-RI-TOES

boil em mash m stick em in a stew

Fail Fix'd

[Liz]

Good idea, lass!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum, syn. Lycopersicon lycopersicum) is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins tobacco, chili peppers, potato, and eggplant. It is a perennial, often grown outdoors in temperate climates as an annual, typically reaching to 1-3m (3 to 10 ft) in height, with a weak, woody stem that often vines over other plants.

The leaves are 10–25 cm long, odd pinnate, with 5–9 leaflets on petioles,[1] each leaflet up to 8cm long, with a serrated margin; both the stem and leaves are densely glandular-hairy. The flowers are 1–2cm across, yellow, with five pointed lobes on the corolla; they are borne in a cyme of 3–12 together.

The tomato is native to Central, South, and southern North America from Mexico to Argentina. There is evidence that the first domesticated tomato was a little yellow fruit, ancestor of L. cerasiforme, grown by the Aztecs in Mexico, who called it xitomatl (pronounced shi-to-ma-tlh), meaning "plump thing with a navel". The word tomato comes from a word in the Nahuatl language, tomatl. The specific name, lycopersicum, means "wolf-peach" (compare the related species Solanum lycocarpum, whose scientific name means "wolf-fruit", common name "wolf-apple"), as they are a major food of wild canids in South America.

According to Andrew F Smith's The Tomato in America[2], the tomato probably originated in the highlands of the west coast of South America. Smith notes there is no evidence the tomato was cultivated or even eaten in Peru before the Spanish arrived, while other researchers have pointed out that many other fruits in continuous cultivation in Peru are not present in the very limited historical record[citation needed].

There is a competing hypothesis that the plant, like the word "tomato", originated in Mexico, where one of the two apparently oldest "wild" types grows. It is entirely possible that domestication arose in both regions independently. Diversity data suggests the center of diversity for wild tomatoes is located in Peru, while that of cultivated tomatoes, in Mexico.[citation needed] Thus, it can be hypothesized that wild tomatoes were introduced from Peru to Mexico, where they were domesticated.

In any case, by some means the tomato migrated to Central America. Mayans and other peoples in the region used the fruit in their cooking, and it was being cultivated in southern Mexico and probably other areas by the 16th Century. It is thought that the Pueblo people believed that those who witnessed the ingestion of tomato seeds were blessed with powers of divination.[citation needed] The large, lumpy tomato, a mutation from a smoother, smaller fruit, originated and was encouraged in Central America. Smith states this variant is the direct ancestor of some modern cultivated tomatoes.

Two modern tomato cultivar groups, one represented by the Matt's Wild Cherry tomato, the other by currant tomatoes, originate by recent domestication of the wild tomato plants apparently native to eastern Mexico.

[edit] Spanish distribution

After the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the Spanish distributed the tomato throughout their colonies in the Caribbean. They also took it to the Philippines, whence it moved to southeast Asia and then the entire Asian continent. The Spanish also brought the tomato to Europe. It grew easily in Mediterranean climates, and cultivation began in the 1540s. It was probably eaten shortly after it was introduced, though it was certainly being used as food by the early 1600s in Spain. The earliest discovered cookbook with tomato recipes was published in Naples in 1692, though the author had apparently obtained these recipes from Spanish sources. However, in certain areas of Italy, such as Florence, the fruit was used solely as tabletop decoration before it was ever incorporated into the local cuisine until the late 17th or early 18th century.

Tomatoes were not grown in England until the 1590s, according to Smith. One of the earliest cultivators was John Gerard, a barber-surgeon. Gerard's Herbal, published in 1597 and largely plagiarized from continental sources, is also one of the earliest discussions of the tomato in England. Gerard knew that the tomato was eaten in Spain and Italy. Nonetheless, he believed that it was poisonous[citation needed] (tomato leaves and stems actually contain poisonous glycoalkaloids, but the fruit is safe). Gerard's views were influential, and the tomato was considered unfit for eating (though not necessarily poisonous) for many years in Britain and its North American colonies.

But by the mid-1700s, tomatoes were widely eaten in Britain; and before the end of that century, the Encyclopædia Britannica stated that the tomato was "in daily use" in soups, broths, and as a garnish. In Victorian times, cultivation reached an industrial scale in glasshouses, most famously in Worthing. Pressure for housing land in the 1930s to 1960s saw the industry move west to Littlehampton, and to the market gardens south of Chichester. Over the past 15 years, the British tomato industry has declined as more competitive imports from Spain and the Netherlands have reached the supermarkets.

[edit] North America

The earliest reference to tomatoes being grown in British North America is from 1710, when herbalist William Salmon reported seeing them in what is today South Carolina. They may have been introduced from the Caribbean. By the mid-18th century, they were cultivated on some Carolina plantations, and probably in other parts of the Southeast as well. It is possible that some people continued to think tomatoes were poisonous at this time; and in general, they were grown more as ornamental plants than as food. Cultured people like Thomas Jefferson, who ate tomatoes in Paris and sent some seeds home, knew the tomato was edible, but many of the less well-educated did not.

[edit] Production trends

125 million tons of tomatoes were produced in the world in 2005. China, the largest producer, accounted for about one-fourth of the global output, followed by United States and Turkey.

According to FAOSTAT, the top producers of tomatoes (in tonnes) in 2005 were:

The tomato is now grown worldwide for its edible fruits, with thousands of cultivars having been selected with varying fruit types, and for optimum growth in differing growing conditions. Cultivated tomatoes vary in size from cherry tomatoes, about the same 1–2 cm size as the wild tomato, up to beefsteak tomatoes 10 cm or more in diameter. The most widely grown commercial tomatoes tend to be in the 5–6 cm diameter range. Most cultivars produce red fruit; but a number of cultivars with yellow, orange, pink, purple, green, or white fruit are also available. Multicolored and striped fruit can also be quite striking. Tomatoes grown for canning are often elongated, 7–9 cm long and 4–5 cm diameter; they are known as plum tomatoes.

Tomatoes are one of the most common garden fruits in the United States and, along with zucchini, have a reputation for outproducing the needs of the grower.

As in most sectors of agriculture, there is increasing demand in developed countries for organic tomatoes, as well as heirloom tomatoes, to make up for flavor and texture faults in commercial tomatoes[citation needed]. Quite a few seed merchants and banks provide a large selection of heirloom seeds. Tomato seeds are occasionally organically produced as well, but only a small percentage of organic crop area is grown with organic seed.

XD

yay for tomatoes!