Spuds

Mmmm…potatoes! Growing up, we were not a “pasta” family, nor were we a “rice” family. We were solidly a “potato” family. Dinner meant you had a protein, a starch, and a vegetable on your plate. Our starch was almost always potatoes. Sure, we ate a little bit of bread, and had a plate of spaghetti from time to time, but, usually we ate potatoes in every form possible; mashed, baked, fried, roasted, boiled, in soup and stew, as a side dish, as a salad.

I figured this was pretty normal, until I began to eat dinner with other people and found out that they rarely, if ever, ate potatoes. Your background plays a big role in what you eat. It didn’t take a whole lot of research to figure out that if you are of Irish heritage, you ate potatoes.

I learned after my marriage, that if you were German, you also ate potatoes, so my happiness in marriage is largely due to the fact that my husband and I both have a background that strongly featured the lowly potato as a premium food source.

Where Did Potatoes Originate?

Potatoes were first recorded by the Spanish conquistadors in the Andes Mountains of South American during the 15^th century. The nuggets they found in the ground were not gold, but potatoes. It is believed that there are over 4000 varieties of potatoes, tubers that were initially domesticated over 8,000 years ago on the steep mountainsides by Lake Titicaca near Bolivia and Peru.

The first documented planting of the potato in Europe is not easily identified as there is some murkiness between what we know as the Irish potato Solanujm tuberosumand sweet potatoes Impomea batatas. In one reference it is said to be in 1585 by a C. Clusius who planted the brown tuber in Italy. It was near the middle of the 1600s when the potato was planted in Berlin by Frederick William of Prussia, taking about 100 years before it had become a staple for the poor, distributed by Frederick the Great. Up until this time all outside of Ireland considered the potato to be food fit only for swine.

The potato achieved greater notoriety when a Frenchman by the name of Parmentier was introduced to the potato while a prisoner in Germany. When he was released, he brought a bag of potatoes back with him to France to plant. He made sure the potato and its flowers made its way to King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Once Antoinette used the potato flowers in her elaborate hairstyles, the potato was adopted by all those in France who modeled themselves after what was being done in court.

Irish Potato Famine

Because of my heritage, I investigated the cause of the Irish Potato Famine. By the 1830’s, Belfast and Lisburn had entered the industrial age, as a result the price of grain decreased and so did prosperity. Roughly one third of the population stopped growing grain and turned to potatoes.

No one knows for a fact when potatoes were introduced to Ireland, but by the end of the 18^th century they were the staple food for the poorest of Ireland’s population, able to grow in even the wettest of conditions.

Potatoes are very nutritious. Eaten in sufficient quantity, they provided adequate nutrition with the exception of fat and vitamin A. Most families had buttermilk, the leftover residue after butter has been churned from the cream, which was sold. Buttermilk provided the missing nutrients. Known to eat 14 pounds of potatoes per day, the Irish were taller, stronger, and healthier than their English counterparts.

One acre could yield 12 tons of potatoes, properly stored, this would last 9-1/2 months. That meant 2-1/2 months living off the land until the next crop came. These were known as “meal months” when the Irish ate oats or barley for food.

The Irish raised potatoes in “lazy beds”, a horticulture method the English never understood. They would plow lines through turf about four feet apart, pile the space in-between with lime, manure, sea sand, seaweed, and kelp. Then, they would turn over the adjacent turf layer, grass side down, creating a sandwich of turf and mineral rich materials. Using a very sharp tool called a “spud”, they would make holes into the sandwiched layers of dirt, peat, grass, manure, seaweed. This was truly an ingenious form of horticulture. Seed potato was placed right in the middle where the richest part of the soil could be found.

On September 6, 1845 the first curling black leaves of the potato blight caused by the fungal infection called Phytophthora infestans began the devastation that prompted the Great Potato Famine. In 1846, for the first time in history, a second consecutive year of the blight was recorded and this devastated the poor of Ireland. The potato famine destroyed the primary food source for half the population of the land. This resulted in malnourishment, starvation, anemia, and scurvy, which took its toll on the population, prompting the largest exodus in history from Ireland to North America.

What is known as the “Irish Potato” is part of the Solanum tuberosum plant that has its roots in South America, having received their name because of the famine in Ireland. This is a white boiling potato. They are not well suited for mashing or baking, but more for boiling in stews.

Varieties of Potatoes:

Potatoes fall into two basic categories: baking potatoes and boiling potatoes. The difference between the two is the amount of starch each contains. Baking potatoes have a high starch content which accounts for them being dry and fluffy when baked or made into mashed potatoes. Boiling potatoes have low starch levels which allows the potato to hold together better when boiling in soup or stews.

There are more than 500 varieties of potatoes available to you from garden centers and seed catalog companies. The following are just a few of the most popular varieties.

Baking Potatoes

Baking potatoes are large, long, and have a thick skin that feels a little like cork. These potatoes are perfect for baking, for making mashed potatoes, and are the very best ones to use for making French fries.

Some of the more common varieties of baking potatoes include:

· Goldrush, Norkotah

· Idaho

· Long White

· Netted Gem

· Norgold Russet

· Russet Arcadia

· Russet Burbank

Boiling Potatoes

Boiling potatoes are considered waxy potatoes and come in all shapes and sizes. They have a thin skin that is much smoother than those of baking potatoes. They have high moisture and sugar content and very low starch content. These are excellent to use in soup, potato salad, grilling outside, and in casseroles, and roasting.

A few of the varieties that you may find include:

· Kennebec

· Irish Potato

· Red Bliss

· Red La Rouge

· Red Nordland

· Red Pontiac

· Red Potato

· Round Red

· Round White

· Ruby Crescent

· Salad Potato

· Yellow Finnish

· Yellow Potato

Nutritional Information:

Potatoes are much more nutritious than most people would have you believe. At one time the lowly potato was considered to be a source of starch and sugar. They also have a lot of vitamins and minerals. Vitamin A is not found in potatoes, but other than that they contain just about every other nutrient, including fiber. Potatoes contain calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, Vitamin C, niacin, and folate.

Basic Growing Information

Soil Preparation and When to Plant

As shown by the Irish farmers, potatoes can grow even when it is wet and cool, but they do appreciate good drainage. They prefer a more acidic pH than your regular garden, so keep your potatoes away from where you apply lime to your garden. The best pH is 6.0, with soft, friable soil. Heavy clay will result in small, misshapen tubers that are not optimal specimens. Soil temperature should be about 50 degrees at 4 inches deep. This is roughly three weeks before the last spring frost in your area.

Seed Potatoes

Purchase good quality seed potatoes from a reputable source to lessen any problems with disease or pests. Seed potatoes are chunks of potato that have at least two eyes per piece on them.

Type of Planting

Potatoes can be planted directly in a flat garden, but you’ll find that you get better results if you do a little bit of planning. Potatoes do especially well with the following gardening styles: hilling, straw mulching, and lasagna gardening (similar to the Irish farming method). Hilling can be done either in rows or in mounds. You’ll start by planting your seed potatoes about 15 inches apart and cover them with about 4 inches of soil. In a couple of weeks they will sprout, and you’ll want to add another 4 inches of soil over the root system covering part of the emerging stem. In a couple more weeks when the stems are about 8 inches, you’ll cover with another four inches of soil. Each time, you’ll mound soil about halfway up the exposed stem. This makes room for the potatoes to grow and expand without compression. The mounded soil is light and friable. Hilling also serves another purpose, if the growing potatoes are exposed to sunlight they’ll turn green and this portion of the potato is toxic and must be cut off. Straw mulch and lasagna gardening are similar, but they use material other than soil to continue the hilling/mounding process.

Water Needs

Potatoes need regular watering. If they do not get water on a regular basis, they will become misshapen and undersized. Be especially watchful of their watering during the time they are in flower and immediately afterward. You want to water early in the day so that the foliage of the plant is completely dry before evening.

Harvesting

You can begin harvesting about three weeks after flowering if you want to use small baby potatoes in your dishes. Gently loosen the soil, reach under the plant and remove the largest tubers, leaving the smaller ones to finish growing. When the foliage begins to yellow and die back, this means that full harvest is near. Wait about two weeks to allow the tubers to finish their maturing process. After you loosen the soil, expose the potatoes to the air for a day or two to dry the potato skin, which will help the potatoes store longer. Store in a dark, dry, cool area at about 40 degrees. They will keep between three and six months this way.

Potatoes fresh from the field are a dish of rare and exquisite taste. If you’ve never had freshly harvested potatoes, get yourself to your next Farmer’s Market and give yourself a treat.

Potatoe Problems

Diseases – As discussed previously, the cause of the Great Irish Potato Famine was due to a fungal blight. This is certainly a possibility even today. It is best to practice good crop rotation, never growing potatoes in the same place more than once in a three year period. Also, use certified seed potatoes that have been treated against some of the more common forms of disease.

Pests – Potatoes are prone to insect infestation like aphids, flea beetles, leafhoppers, and blister beetles. Check with your extension office for the best way to manage these pests in your area.

Written By:

Kathleen Birmingham

Spuds

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