Potato

History

Only the inhabitants of the the Peruvian Andes knew potato, called dad in Quechua. They cultivated it close to 1000 years before J. - C. The first known description goes back to 1533, which one owes with Pedro de Cieza de León in his Chronique of Peru . Introduced in Spain in 1534, it is cultivated by Moine S of Seville in 1573 to nourish sick people, also under the name of dad . In two centuries, the potato will conquer the Europe: initially in Spain where it will take the name of patata , then the Italy taratouffli (small truffle), the Ireland potato , the Germany then France. It is introduced in France towards 1540 and is cultivated with Saint-Alban-in Ay (it was the variety known as “Truffole”). It is illustrated for the first time by Gaspard Bauhin in Pinax Theatri Botanici of 1596.

It is described in 1600 by Olivier de Serres, which names it cartoufle and declares about it: “ This shrub known as cartoufle carries fruict of mesme name, similar has truffles. ” While in Italy, Germany, Poland and Russia one ate already potato, in France it was used only to nourish the Bétail during more than two centuries. The English had on their side discovered the tuber in 1586, with the return of a campaign against the Spaniards in current the Colombia. Propagated as well by the English as by the Spaniards, the potato gains the rest of Europe, and the many food shortages of the 18th century will encourage its consumption by Europeans, the Germany appearing in the row of the precursors.

Concerning France, in 1757 it was cultivated in Brittany, then in period of food shortage, in the area of Rennes by Louis Rene de Caradeuc of Chalotais, followed soon in the Leon by monseigneur of Walk, called “the bishop of potatos” ( rear eskob patatez ). But it is especially Antoine Parmentier, of return of a stay in captivity in Prussia, which makes the promotion of potato like human food and succeeds in developing its use in all the layers of the French company. It had been captured by the Prussian during the Guerre Seven Year old (1756 - 1763) and had discovered on this occasion the potato, principal food provided to the prisoners. Following a terrible food shortage which has occurred in 1769, the academy of Besancon lance in 1771 a contest on the following topic: “Indicate the plants which could compensate in the event of food shortage for those that one commonly employs with the food of the men, and which should about it be the preparation. ” Parmentier gains the first price, in front of other competitors which them had also written a report on potato, proof that the use of this Tubercule was really with the day order. It is necessary to note more than ONE century before Parmentier, thanks to Jean Bauhin (1541-1612) and brother of Gaspard Bauhin, director of the " Large-Jardin" of Montbeliard, the potato was consumed to mitigate the famine which prevailed in the County of Montbeliard independent and become French that in 1793.

Thereafter, Parmentier succeeds in obtaining the support of the authorities to incite the population to consume potatoes. There makes in particular use of a stratagem remained famous: it makes assemble a guard (light) around a potato field, thus giving the impression to the residents which it is about a rare and expensive culture, intended with the only use of the noble . Some fly of the tubers, cook them and appreciate them. The king Louis XVI congratulates it in these terms: France will thank you one day for having invented the bread of the poor . Their employment in the popular Cuisine develops then very quickly.

At the end of the 18th century, 45 km ² were devoted in France to the culture of potato. One century later, in 1892, this surface had passed to: 14500 km ², considerable figure of which it should however be stressed that it clearly dropped thereafter. Currently, the production of potatoes does not occupy any more but: 1800 km ², on the one hand because the human consumption sharply fell, other because animal consumption disappeared. In the world, the annual production is of approximately 300 million tons, for a surface cultivated higher than: 200000 km ².

At the 19th century, the potato had become the prevalent food at the Irish. The epidemic of Mildiou in the Années 1840 is at the origin of a great famine and an important emigration towards the the United States.

One of the problems was the conservation of the tubers which it was in particular necessary to protect from freezing and the rot: one finds in the Bulletin of Lille, of December 1915 a Receipt of conservation of the potatoes, which according to the reader who communicates it, " appeared at one time in an scientific magazine " " To fill up with the three quarters of water a container (cauldron or rather roomy pot). To make heat water and, when it is ebullient, fill the container with potatoes. To let boil the whole during one minute. Spent this time, to withdraw potatoes, to wipe them, and repeat the operation until complete exhaustion of potatoes. The germs, being thus destroyed, fermentation is not from now on possible any more. The potatoes, thus treated, are then put in baskets or bags, and can be preserved during approximately two ans". Against the freezing which gives to potatoes an unpleasant sweetened taste, the same bulletin advises “To put the tubers in cool water as one makes heat. As soon as water starts to boil, to remove it, it will completely carry with it the taste sweetened in question. One will put then potatoes in cool water and salted, which one will make boil with the ordinary manner” . (source)

Botany

Description

The potato is a herbaceous hardy perennial whose generic name ( Solanum ) indicated at the Romains a variety of Morelle. In addition to Solanum tuberosum , there exist many wild varieties pushing in South America, for example S. jamesii , S. commersioni , S. maglia or S. andigenum . Some of these species, because of their cold resistance, of their precocity, their resistance to the diseases, were used to improve the varieties cultivated in Europe or to create new ones.

As opposed to what one generally thinks, the Tubercule does not belong to the root of the plant, but to his Tige buried of which leave the branches plus hails called Rhizome S, at the end of which the tubers are formed. On the surface of the latter the “eyes”, or bud S are, which has the characteristic to be had helicoid way. These eyes are transformed into Germe S after one more or less long period of rest. The tuber comprises a strong proportion of Eau, being able to go until 80 %, as well as starch-based matters (the Starch), Sugar, matters albuminoid, cellulose fibers , mineral elements , Diastase S and Vitamin S (Vitamin C, especially present in the Skin) and of toxins (see further).

The Fleur S, grouped in Cyme S, comprise five Sépale S and five welded Pétale S forming a kind of wheel with five points. They are generally white or mauve, but sometimes also blue, crimsons or purple dark. The Fruit is a bay, kind of small very round Tomate containing very many Graine S.

Toxicity

As it is often the case for the Solanaceous ones, for example the Tomate S, the potato contains different Toxine S, especially in the green parts, like the flowers and the buds: it is not use to consume the stems and the sheets (which could be useful during difficult periods as substitute of the Tabac) but it is necessary to abstain from consuming the tubers when those present green parts, because one is then likely to poison oneself. For this reason the potatoes must always be preserved at the darkness. Moreover, the fruit is very toxic, case of the majority of the species of the kind Solanum , like the black Morelle or the Soft-bitter .

The principal one of these toxins is a Alcaloïde, the Solanine, which is present also in the tuber at weak amounts (less 10 Mg for 100 G) and concentrated especially in the skin, from where interest of weeding. When the concentration is higher, it is the case at certain varieties, that gives a bitter taste to the tuber. The solanine is usually not eliminated by the Cuisson because it is destroyed by heat only beyond 243 ° C. The ingestion of solanine seldom causes death but can cause Hémorragie S, in particular with the Rétine. The potato contains also Lectine S, but those are destroyed by cooking. The lectines are Protéine S able to bind in a reversible way to the mono ones or oligosaccharides. This property makes it possible the lectines to bind the human Hématie S and probably to disturb the good performance of the digestive Tract of the Insecte S nourishing plant, thus playing a part in the defense of this plant against the insects.

Principal cultivated varieties

The number of varieties of potatoes is considerable, it exists about it at least: 3000, majority however not being used for the Food. The mode of culture makes it possible to distinguish two categories:

early potatoes, or early products , cultivated in France in the areas with Winter soft, in particular coasts of Aquitanian Brittany and or the littoral the Mediterranean N. Planted in winter, they are collected three months often before to have later, reached their maturity (new potatoes known as , whose skin is not yet entirely formed).
potatoes of conservation, or late, planted in April - May, collected four or five months later, produced a little everywhere in France, in particular in North.

Another distinction can be done according to the consistency of the flesh:

potatoes with firm flesh, with fine grain, of generally oblong form, which are due well to cooking and are appreciated for their gustatory qualities (example: Charlotte, ratte, Amandine);
potatoes with less fine grain, richer in starch, whose most known variety is the bintje . These potatoes are used for the clothes industry of mashed potatoes or Frite S, and for the manufacture of the processed products (chips, croquettes, fried frozen, etc)

It will not be forgotten that a good part of the production is intended for the starch works. One of course uses the varieties richest in starch, in theory of late potatoes, most known being Kaptah Vandel , of Danish origin . As for the food varieties, most famous are the following ones:

Agata : recent variety created with the Netherlands. Enough similar to the bintje (see below), it is a little earlier. It is very sold in large surfaces.
Ambo : “new” variety. Fine skin in red eyes, slightly farinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to boil or roast.
Balmoral : “late” variety. Farinaceous flesh.
Beautiful of Fontenay: one of the oldest French varieties, early potato of a very great culinary quality. She particularly appreciates the sandy grounds of the Loiret, where she is entitled to the red label .
BF 15: obtained in 1947 by INRA by crossing between the Beautiful one of Fontenay and Flava, it is today a still cultivated variety, appreciated for its firm flesh and its strong productivity.
Bintje : the most cultivated of all French potatoes, produced especially in North, its flesh is farinaceous. Is appropriate to boil, roast, fry, for salad, soup, gratin and mashed potatoes.
Charlotte: variety which is already 25 years old of very oblong form. Fine skin, firm flesh. Very productive and of an excellent behavior to cooking. Is appropriate to jump but not to roast. It is the variety with flesh closes the most cultivated in France.
Cherished: red skin with firm and yellow flesh. Excellent behavior with cooking. Exit of a crossing with the Roseval.
Coliban : smooth and clear skin, white and farinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to cook with the furnace, the vapor or mashed potatoes. The flesh holds badly.
Cwène di spoils: near to the ratte of Touquet, it is cultivated in the Belgian Luxembourg, around Florenville; she is regarded by certain as one of the best varieties in the world being consumed cooked with water or the vapor. Its output is weak, which makes its cost of it. Its name in Wallon results in horns of goats .
Delaware : cream-coloured skin and with the white flesh. Is appropriate to roast, cook with the furnace, to fry, for gratins but not for mashed potatoes.
Desired: smooth and pink skin, yellow flesh. Is appropriate to boil, roast, cook with the furnace, mashed potatoes and salads, but not for the cracklings.
Estimated: nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate for salad and the ragouts.
Franceline : “new” variety. Is appropriate to boil.
Fine of century: Very appreciated in Trégor, in Brittany, where she is regarded as the cream of the cream of potatos; it there is most of the time cultivated and sold " with the noir" because its production is not regarded any more as suffisemment profitable.
Jersey royal: very old variety cultivated in the island of Jesey to bring closer to Royal kydney. Fine skin, yellow dark and scented flesh. Is appropriate to boil.
King Edward : mottled cream-coloured skin of pink, white flesh. Is appropriate to fry, roast, boil or for mashed potatoes.
Kipfler : gilded skin, nonfarinaceous yellow flesh. Is appropriate to boil, jump, cook with the furnace or salad.
Marfona : fine skin, nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate for salads.
Husbands Hand-barrow: “New” variety. Is appropriate to boil or jump.
Monalisa : variety created in the Netherlands. Its culture is very widespread today in France. Enough similar to the bintje, but with best held with cooking.
Nadine: fine skin and firm and nonfarinaceous flesh. Early variety. Is appropriate for salad.
Nicola: cream-coloured skin, yellow and nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to boil or the salad.
Owner: cream-coloured skin, yellow and nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to boil, jump, cook with the furnace, salads but not for mashed potatoes.
Pentland Javelin: firm and nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate for salads.
Picasso : fine skin, many red eyes. Is appropriate to boil or roast.
Pink eye : cream-coloured skin, dark eyes, yellow and nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to boil, fry, for salad, but not for mashed potatoes.
Pink to fir APPLE: pink skin creams, nonfarinaceous flesh. Is appropriate to boil and cook with the furnace. Excellent out of salad.
Pontiac : red skin, white and nonfarinaceous flesh. Very general-purpose, is appropriate for all the methods of cooking, and for salad.
Purple Congo: skin purple dark, flesh violet and farinaceous. Is appropriate to fry or boil.
Ratte : “early” variety with the oblong and knotty form (it owes its name with its form, similar to that of a mouse). Flesh closes with the delicious hazel nut taste. Is appropriate for salad or to boil. Most prestigious is that of the Touquet, but the ratte seems originating in the area Lyon is born. Only disadvantage: it is sensitive to the diseases and not very productive, from where its high price. It is known to enter the composition of famous mashed potatoes of Joel Robuchon.
Romano: red skin, flesh closes nonfarinaceous. Is appropriate to roast or fry.
Roseval : variety created in Brittany. Red skin, yellow flesh sometimes striated with pink. One of the most refined, very soft with the taste, it is in addition to one excellent output, about identical to that of the Bintje. Is appropriate to roast.
Russet burbank or Idaho : brown skin, yellow flesh. Is appropriate to fry or roast.
Salad blue : tinted flesh of blue. Is appropriate for salads.
Sebago : cream-coloured skin, white flesh. Is appropriate to boil, cook with the furnace, to fry and for mashed potatoes.
Spunta : brown skin, yellow flesh, but which holds badly. Is appropriate to roast, fry, cook with the furnace, mashed potatoes and gratins.
Truffle of China or Negress . Skin black, flesh violet and white, farinaceous and scented. Must be pulp with its skin. Is appropriate for salads.
Vitelotte . Skin and flesh violets. Sweetened with a sweet chestnut taste. Mainly cultivated in Picardy but also with Villard-Moved back (Isere) which still nowadays cultivates this old and forgotten variety. Can be adapted out of mashed potatoes or fried.

Use

Food use

The potatoes are rich in Glucide S and contain Protéine S, minerals (in particular of the Potassium and Calcium) and Vitamine C (nevertheless, one finds more vitamins C in potatoes which have just been collected). They are not very heating (less 80 kilogram calories for 100 grams of vegetable), subject being adapted without fat contents excess (100 G of potato chips can bring more 500 kcal against 80 for 100 G of potatoes cooked with water). However, they present a high index glycemic (from 57 to 86), which can support the catch of weight. If one hesitated to consume them until second half of the 18th century, they for summer have adapted in all the possible ways, the great classics being the chips, the mashed potatoes, the potatoes pulps (or with English), the soup leek-apples of ground, the jumped or rissolées apples or the mixed salads. French and Belgians dispute the paternity of chip. The French regard it as a Parisian creation: chips were sold on the bridges of Paris during the Révolution, from where their name of apples Pont-Neuf . The Belgians are pressed on a document of 1781 saying that one adored to make fry small the Poisson S of Rivière, but that, when one did not find any, one replaced them by cut potatoes so that they reproduce the shape of these fish.

Several famous dishes use potato as principal ingredient:

Aligot
Fritters of potatoes
Croquettes of potatoes
Chips
Fried
Wafer of potatoes
Cake of potatoes
Gnocchi
Gratin Dauphinois

Savoyard Gratin
Cottage pie
Chinese Pie
Pie with the potatoes
Petal of potatoes
Potatoes with the baker
Potatoes out of dress of the fields
Potatoes in curlpapers
Potatoes stuffed
Potatoes with the sarladaise
Putin
Quenelles with potatoes
Rösti
Tartiflette
Truffade of the Cantal

In the areas of great production, like the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the Picardy in France, the potato gave birth to an important industrial processing industry, which produces in particular chips, dehydrated mashed potatoes, frozen preparations…

It will be also specified that as from the 19th century, the alcohol of potato was used to make the Vodka, but that today this use about disappeared.

Industrial use

Starch, also called Starch, has many uses. In the food, it can replace the Farine, be employed as thickening in the Sauce S. One also uses it in the industrial Pâtisserie and the clothes industry of the Biscotte S.

But it is in nonfood industry that are the majority of the outlets: it enters the composition of some Médicament S, in that of the lipstick or the layers for babies, in the paper mill, the Textile, plywood. Treated by warm water, the starch is called starch paste and uses the clothes industry of the rubber or the glazing of photo paper.

One will announce for memory the empesage collars or wrists of shirts, disappeared today. In the same way, the starch is used less than formerly in the manufacture of Colle S.

Linguistic use

The term potato nominates in familiar French a person whom one regards as being a little simplette. Thus one will say for example: " so-and-so is a potato! " To note that far from any insult, certain regionalisms allot an emotional connotation to him.

to have some large on the potato , to have some large on the heart.

Enemies of potato

Principal diseases

Mildew ( Phytophthora infestans ),
brown Rhizoctone ( Rhizoctonia solani ),
Gangrène of the potato ( Phoma exigua ),
Fusariose
bacterial Rots (bacteria),
common Scale ( Streptomyces scabies ),
silver plated Scale ( Helminthosporium solani ),

Principal ravageurs

Altise of the potato ( Psylliodes affinis ),
Cicadelle of grillures of the vine ( Empoasca vitis ),
Colorado beetle ( Leptinotarsa decemlineata ),
common Cockchafer ( Melolontha melolontha ),
Nematode S with Galle of the roots ( Meloidogynous spp.),
Nematode gilded ( Globodera rostochiensis ),
Nematode with pale cyst ( Globodera pallida ),
Cut worm of the harvests ( Agrotis segetum ),
Small gray slug ( Deroceras reticulatum ),
green Plant louse of fishing ( Myzus persicae ),
green Plant louse of the pink and the potato ( Macrosiphum euphorbiae ),
black Plant louse of the broad bean ( Aphid fabae ),
Plant louse of digital the ( Aulacorthum solani ),
green Bug of the growths ( Lygus pabulinus ).

Some figures

In 2003 (source: FAO), the worldwide production rose to 311,4 million ton S, for: 192000 km ² planted, are an average output of: 1480 tonne/km ².

The principal producers are the following:

China: : 45000 km ² - 66,8 million tons;
European Union (to fifteen): 1,27 - 43,3
Russia: 3,29 - 35,9
India: 1,40 - 24,0
the United States: 0,51 - 20,8
Ukraine: 1,60 - 17,6
Poland: 0,80 - 13,5

Within the European Union to 25, the largest producer is Poland, in front of the Germany. The average output in Europe of the fifteen is of: 3420 tonne/km ² and of: 1670 tonne/km ² in Poland. The most important European producers are the following:

Poland: : 8000 km ², 13,49 million tons
Germany: : 2836.24 km ², 10,17 million tons
the United Kingdom: : 1600 km ², 6,97 million tons
France: : 1620 km ², 6,40 million tons
Netherlands: : 1571.29 km ², 6,39 million tons
Spain: : 1023 km ², 2,72 million tons

Principal producer countries

See too

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