Potato, or papa, is the world's fourth largest staple. But the simple potato wasn't always such a big deal.
The humble potato plant (Solanum tuberosum) got its start in the Andes mountains of Peru and Chile around 10,000 years ago according to archeological evidence.
The more than 3,000 varieties of potato helped build the Incan empire in the mountains of South America, a far greater diversity than the 150 varieties that are registered in Canada today.
The Incans were genius plant breeders of the potato plant, pioneering a seven-year potato crop rotation to prevent crop loss by a nematode pest whose life cycle was six years. The Incan botanists also created research and breeding stations among the mountains at varying elevations and aspects, mimicking growing climates throughout the entire Incan empire, which spanned the west coast of South America from Ecuador to Chile.
The Incans had a method to preserve the potato that included smashing the potatoes underfoot and letting the cold, post-harvest season nights freeze dry them.
The potato is known to produce more food per unit area of land planted than any other major-planted crop.
Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin B6 potassium, copper, vitamin C, manganese, phosphorus, niacin, dietary fiber, and pantothenic acid. They also contain blood pressure-lowering compounds called kukoamines.
In the 1500s, the Spanish conquistadors discovered the plant and brought it back to Europe.
When the potato arrived in Ireland it caused a boom in the population such as it did in the rest of Europe, which doubled to eight million between 1780 and 1841. Due to the lack of diversity in the crop's genetics in Ireland, it was affected harshly by potato late blight, which caused a famine that killed more than one million people in Ireland and causing another million to emigrate from their homeland. This great famine should be a lesson to the importance of diversity in crops, though for some reason we keep reducing the diversity of most staple crops.
Potato biodiversity is under a great threat, ancient varieties that have been cultivated by Andean peoples for millennia have been lost to diseases, climate change and social upheaval.
These reasons along with the amazing ability of the potato to adapt to local climates and provide great nutritional benefits is why here on our farm we are going to be sourcing Peruvian potatoes this year to go along with our Russian and Canadian heirloom potatoes.
We are hoping to breed more resilience into the potato for our climate not unlike our successful cantaloupe breeding, which has yielded a great seed that produces cantaloupe free from cover in our northern climate.
Today the average North American eats an average of 140 pounds per year which roughly equates to a potato a day.
A potato a day keeps the doctor away?
The difference in taste and methods of cooking is just as diverse as the 3,000 or so varieties of the potato. Our heirloom Russian fingerling potato (which we grew mostly for its high value on the market) not only surprised us at how wonderful a potato can taste without seasoning but also gave us a lot of compliments from our customers saying that it was the best potato they had ever eaten.
For a fun dinner event with friends, try sourcing some interesting and unique potatoes and re-discover what is being lost by our current mono-culture food system.
Your taste buds will thank you and I promise you will not see the potato as simply a potato anymore.
