History and Origin of the Potato

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 pottery 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 - Early

P otatoes 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.

Famin e 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 Russet Burbank

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. And Idaho's volcanic soil mimics that of the Andes; the light ash of which it is made up 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

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.

One of the largest, most comprehensive, potato research programs in the United States is financed by the Washington State Potato Commission. 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.

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 hydro-electric 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.

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