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[[Image:Potatopic.jpg|right|thumb|300px]]

[[Image:Potatopic.jpg|right|thumb|300px]]

The '''potato''' (pl. ''potatoes''), also called ''Irish potato'' or ''white potato'' or, informally, ''spud'', is one of the world's most important [[food|foods]]. It ranks as the fourth-most-important food crop, after corn (maize), wheat and rice. It provides more calories and more nutrients, more quickly, using less land and in a wider range of climates than any other plant. However, it is hard to store and ship long distances.

The '''potato''' (pl. ''potatoes''), also called ''Irish potato'' or ''white potato'' or, informally, ''spud'', is one of the world's most important [[food|foods]]. It ranks as the fourth-most-important food crop, after corn (maize), wheat and rice and ahead of soybeans. It provides more calories and more nutrients, more quickly, using less land and in a wider range of climates than any other plant. However, it is hard to store and ship long distances.

 

The potato is a tuber or root of ''Solanum tuberosum''; it comes in many colors (brown, purple, red, white, etc.) and can be easily cooked by frying in oil, baking, or boiling. For long-term storage or shipment, they can be frozen in strips ("French Fries") or turned to powder.

==International Year of the Potato==

==International Year of the Potato==

The United Nations declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato.<ref> See [http://www.potato2008.org/ International Year of the Potato website]</ref> It hopes that greater awareness of the merits of potatoes will contribute to the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security and promote economic development.

The United Nations declared 2008 the International Year of the Potato.<ref> See [http://www.potato2008.org/ International Year of the Potato website]</ref> It hopes that greater awareness of the merits of potatoes will contribute to the achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, by helping to alleviate poverty, improve food security and promote economic development.

==Food value==

==Food value==

Potatoes are high in complex [[carbohydrate]]s.  Potatoes are usually grown not from seeds, but from the eye of another potato.  Many potatoes are grown in [[Idaho]]. Potatoes are a good source of [[vitamin C]].

In terms of nutrition, potatoes are high in complex [[carbohydrate]]s and [[vitamin C]].  

 

 

It is the root of an herbaceous plant (''Solanum tuberosum'') that originally evolved in the northern [[Andes|Andean]] highlands.

The potato was cultivated by various Andean civilizations for at least 2000 years before the Spanish were introduced to it by the [[Inca]]s in the 16th century. During that time, many different varieties were developed by the Andean peoples, but it was mainly the common white potato that was brought to Europe for cultivation. The potato became a staple crop across northern Europe, but nowhere so much as in [[Ireland]], where an epidemic of [[potato blight]] in 1845-46 produced a [[Irish Famine|famine]] that killed a million or more people and forced as many to emigrate.

The potato was discovered and cultivated in the Andes 3000+ years ago, and was a major food source for the [[Incas]]s, who gave it to the Spanish around 1520.<ref>Office of International Affairs, '' Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation'' (1989) [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 online]</ref> They brought to Europe one main variety, the white potato. It soon became the major food crop for peasants in northern Europe. A plot of an acre or less could feed an entire peasant family for a year.  Ireland became overdependent on the potato, and when a potato blight<ref> See [http://www.cropinfo.net/Potatoblight.htm "Potato Late Blight] for details.</ref> in 1845-46 destroyed most of the crop, the result was the [[Irish Famine|famine]]. The famine caused a million deaths, vast social disruption and massive emigration.  

The great diversity of potatoes developed in the Andes has been expanded even further around the world, so that there are varieties suited to nearly every climate, with harvest times anywhere from midsummer to late fall. Most prefer a well-drained, slightly acid soil, and are planted in the early spring.

Farmers and agronomists have developed many new varieties and sub-varieties to fit different soils and climates.<ref> see [http://www.umaine.edu/paa/PVI.htm for a listing]</ref>  Harvest is usually midsummer to late fall. Most farmers plant in early spring, using well-drained, slightly acid soil; they avoid wet, soggy soils.<ref> See [http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/rowcrops/pp877w.htm Gary A. Secor, "Guidelines for Seed Potato Selection, Handling and Planting" PP-877 1997] and [http://info.ag.uidaho.edu/pdf/CIS/CIS1000.pdf "Potato Production in the Home Garden"]</ref> 

==Production and consumption==

==Production and consumption==

Served as "French fries", often alongside burgers and colas, potatoes are now an icon of globalization.

Served as "French fries", often alongside burgers and colas, potatoes are now an icon of globalization.

Belarusians lead the world with 345 kilos consumed per person per year--an amazing two pounds a day per man, woman and child.

Belorussians lead the world with 345 kilos consumed per person per year--an amazing two pounds a day per man, woman and child.

==History==

==History==

Potatoes yield abundantly with little effort, and adapt readily to diverse climates so long as the climate is cool and moist enough for the plants to gather sufficient water from the soil to form the starchy tubers. Potatoes do not keep very well in storage and are are vulnerable to molds that feed on the stored tubers, quickly turning them rotten. By contrast grain can be stored for several years without much risk of rotting.

Potatoes yield abundantly with little effort, and adapt readily to diverse climates so long as the climate is cool and moist enough for the plants to gather sufficient water from the soil to form the starchy tubers. Potatoes do not keep very well in storage and are are vulnerable to molds that feed on the stored tubers, quickly turning them rotten. By contrast grain can be stored for several years without much risk of rotting.

===Peru===

===Peru===

Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. In the altiplano, potatoes provided the principal energy source for the Inca Empire, its predecessors and its Spanish successor. In Peru above 10,000 feet altitude, tubers exposed to the cold night air turned into chuño; when kept in  permanently-frozen underground storehouses, chuño can be stored for years with no loss of nutritional value. The Spanish fed chuño to the silver miners who produced vast wealth in the 16th century for the Spanish government.

Potatoes were first domesticated in Peru between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. In the altiplano, potatoes provided the principal energy source for the Inca Empire, its predecessors and its Spanish successor. In Peru above 10,000 feet altitude, tubers exposed to the cold night air turned into chuño; when kept in  permanently-frozen underground storehouses, chuño can be stored for years with no loss of nutritional value. The Spanish fed chuño to the silver miners who produced vast wealth in the 16th century for the Spanish government.<ref>Office of International Affairs, '' Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation'' (1989) [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=030904264X&page=92 online]</ref>

Peru is home to up to 3,500 different varieties of edible tubers, according to the International Potato Center, whose headquarters are near Lima. The United Nations has designated 2008 as the "International Year of the Potato" and Peru hopes to use this to draw attention to itself and its crop. Alan García, the president, has ordered that a government-sponsored program of free breakfasts for poor families should serve bread made from a mixture of potato flour with wheat, which is more expensive and has to be imported. He also wants government food services to start serving chuño, a naturally freeze-dried potato that is traditionally eaten by Andean Indians. Boiled chuño and cheese are said to have replaced sandwiches at cabinet meetings.  Peru grows 25 varieties commercially, but exports little.  Peruvian yellow potatoes are prized by gourmets for mashing; tubular ollucos are firm and waxy.  

Peru is home to up to 3,500 different varieties of edible tubers, according to the International Potato Center, whose headquarters are near Lima. The United Nations has designated 2008 as the "International Year of the Potato" and Peru hopes to use this to draw attention to itself and its crop. Alan García, the president, has ordered that a government-sponsored program of free breakfasts for poor families should serve bread made from a mixture of potato flour with wheat, which is more expensive and has to be imported. He also wants government food services to start serving chuño, a naturally freeze-dried potato that is traditionally eaten by Andean Indians. Boiled chuño and cheese are said to have replaced sandwiches at cabinet meetings.  Peru grows 25 varieties commercially, but exports little.  Peruvian yellow potatoes are prized by gourmets for mashing; tubular ollucos are firm and waxy.