Potato Information

The Potato is a perennial plant of the Solanaceae, or nightshade, family, commonly grown for its starchy tuber. Potatoes are 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'). The potato was domesticated in southern Peru and northern Bolivia and is important to the culture of the Andes, where farmers grow many different varieties that have a remarkable diversity of colors and shapes. In pre-Colombian times they were also widely cultivated on Chiloe Island, in Chile. Potatoes spread from South America to Spain and from there to the rest of the world after European colonization in the late 1400s and early 1500s. They soon became an important field crop.

For instance, the potato was a staple food for sailors in Spanish ships. After the wreck of the Spanish Armada in 1588, English coastal villagers rescued potatoes and planted them. In 1845, a fungal disease, Phytophthora infestans, also known as late blight, spread rapidly through the poorer communities of western Ireland, resulting in the Irish Potato Famine. Unfortunately the local population had begun to rely on the potato as a staple food and when crops failed, year after year, huge numbers of people died. Others emigrated, largely to the USA, blaming the British government for the situation. The potato is also strongly associated with Idaho, Maine, Prince Edward Island, Ireland, Jersey and Russia because of its large role in the agricultural economy and/or history of these regions.

Potatoes eaten with the skin provide nearly half of the Daily Value for vitamin C and are one of the best sources of potassium and fiber.