Potatoes

Potatoes are a year-round favorite - roast, grill, boil, steam, bake, mash - but are in higher demand during the cooler weather, and as we approach the holiday season.

There are many varieties of potatoes available, with some varieties becoming very popular as growers diversify, and offer an exciting mix of potatoes: purples, yellows, fingerlings, red-golds, buttercreams. Potatoes range in size from marbles, creamers, B-size and A-size. The marbles are generally offered during early harvests, and then disappear until the next season. The marble-size is so named because it is the size of a marble! The marble is an excellent roaster, and a true culinary delight!

From the common chefs (large, white all-purpose potato), to the colorful old varieties that are now being cultivated in more volume every year, potatoes continue to be one of the most popular items world-wide.

Some Potato History:

Potatoes have been found in the ancient ruins of Peru and Chile that date back to 500 BC. They were grown and consumed by the Incas who also worshipped them. They stashed and concealed potatoes in bins for use in case of famine or war. They were dried and carried on long journeys - their potatoes had dark purple skin and yellow flesh. The purple-skinned potato is considered one of the oldest varieties, and is today becoming more popular as cultivation expands.

Pedro de Cieza de Leon was the first European to see the potato - 1540. Instead of finding gold, Gonzalo Jiminez de Quesada took the potato to Spain - 1565. John Gerard received roots of the potato plant from Virginia where he successfully grew them in his garden - 1597. Potatoes went to Italy and England - late 1500's; to Belgium, Germany, Austria and France around the same time.

The potato was considered poisonous, and to some evil wherever it was introduced. There was so much opposition to the potato that an edict in the town of Besancon, France stated:

"In view of the fact that the potato is a pernicious substance whose use can cause leprosy, it is hereby forbidden, under pain of fine, to cultivate it."

Irish legend has it that ships of the Spanish Armada, wrecked off the Irish coast, carried potatoes that washed ashore - 1588. Sir Walter Raleigh brought the potato from America to Ireland where he planted them at his estate near Cork - 1589. Note: according to legend, Raleigh made a gift of the potato plant to Queen Elizabeth, who invited the local gentry to a royal banquet that featured the potato in every course. Unfortunately, the kitchen staff - uneducated in the use of potatoes - discarded the tubers, and instead boiled the stems and leaves (poisonous), and the guests became extremely ill. The potatoes were then banned from the court - 1589.

Potatoes were introduced to the US many times during the 1600's, but it took over a century before they were widely grown by Scotch-Irish immigrants in New Hampshire (they began spreading across the nation) - 1719.

Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, a French military botanist, won a contest to find a food: "capable of reducing the calamities of famine", with his study: "Chemical Examination of the Potato". If history is correct, Parmentier was taken prisoner on five occasions by the Prussians during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), and obliged to survive on a diet of potatoes. Today, many French potato preparations bear his name - 1771.

Parmentier, obviously a potato proponent, convinced King Louis XVI of France to encourage the cultivation of potatoes. He was allowed to plant 100 acres outside of Paris, with troops on duty to guard the fields. Needless to say, the public was curious about what was going on, and felt that anything so guarded must be of value. One night Parmentier gave the guards some off-duty time, and the locals went into the fields, grabbed all the potatoes, and planted them on their own farms - thus began, although a small start, the cultivation and consumption of potatoes. Note: history has it that the Queen of France (1755-1793) Marie Antoinettte, who was married to Louis XVI, pinned potato flowers on her curls, and ladies of that era, due to her influence, wore potato blossoms in their hair!

Until around the mid-1700s, Russian peasants refused to use the potato, even when free potatoes were sent to the starving after the 1774 famine. Fortunately, when the soldiers were sent to the very ill, they were able to persuade them to eat potatoes!

In the US, no state is more connected to the potato than Idaho. First planted by a Missionary, Henry Harmon Spalding, at the Lapwai mission, who intended to show the Nez Perce Indians that they could provide food for themselves through agriculture, his first crop was unsuccessful, the next year was very good. Potato growing ended after that for a number of years, however, because of a massacre at the mission, and Spalding left the area - 1836.

The "Great Famine" in Ireland - 1845-1849 - resulted in over half of the population of Ireland to emigrate to America and Australia. During this time, however, Americans did not consider the potato fit for human consumption. Fortunately, horticulturist Luther Burbank developed and introduced the Burbank (a hybrid of the Irish potato that was more disease-resistent), and the industry started to take hold - 1872. Note: the "Great Famine" left families poverty stricken, towns became deserted, and the population of Ireland dropped from about 9 million to just over 4 million people!

Mr. Burbank sold his rights to the Burbank potato for $150, traveled to Santa Rosa, CA and established a nursery garden, greenhouses, and experimental farms that are now famous throughout the world. The russet Burbank potato began cultivation in Idaho in the early 1900s.

No other agricultural product is as common or plentiful in the Western diet as the potato, and no other agricultural product has had such a difficult time of acceptance: The Incas survived on it, the Scots banned it, a French Queen wore its flowers in her hair, the starving refused it! The potatoes of the 16th and 17th centuries contained much higher levels of solanine - very poisonous - but the modern potatoes of today contain very little solanine to cause any harm. Potatoes are members of the "nightshade" family, as are eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, petunias, and tobacco. Note: if a potato turns green it is best to not use it.

In Peru, an international potato center exists where research on potatoes is done, and new varieties are bred. The humble potato gained mythical status in Peru, and today visitors are honored with a meal of sweet yellow potatoes, and the faithful leave the their prized potatoes on mountain tops as an offering to the Gods. Doctors prescribe potato juice as a treatment of some diseases - the worshipped spuds are to the Peruvians what tea is to the English and wine to the French!

All potatoes have different properties: some are excellent to mash, some to roast, some to grill, and so forth. It all has to do with moisture. A low-moisture potato is excellent for mashing; a high-moisture potato is excellent for frying, grilling and roasting; a medium- moisture potato is excellent for boiling.

A simple test for potato density - specific gravity - is: Dissolve 2# of salt in 8 quarts of water, and put some potatoes in the water.

Those that float will be good for frying, roasting and boiling. Those that do not will be good for mashing!

Today we have a wide-variety of potatoes available to us. Some of today's potatoes are old varieties that have resurfaced; some are hybrid varieties that are grown specifically for the fresh market and are more disease resistant. Popular varieties include:

Fingerlings:

Ozette - Pale gold skin, creamy flesh with nutty flavor - steam or sauté - 1700's
Austrian Crescent - Yellow-tan skin and light yellow flesh - boil or steam for salads
Butterfinger or Swedish Peanut - Teardrop shaped, yellow flesh with light-russet exterior - steam, sauté or boil
French - Reddish-orange skin. Best cooked whole/unpeeled - Bake, roast or steam
LaRatt - Discovered in the Swiss Alps, is a very popular variety in the US and Europe - has a very smooth texture.
Purple Peruvian - From the Andes in Peru, this potato has brilliant purple Flesh and skin. To keep the color from fading when cooked, add some vinegar to the cooking water - has a somewhat mealy texture.
Red Thumb - Red skin and flesh - very attractive plate presentation.
Ruby Crescent - Light red exterior with yellow flesh - excellent roaster.
Russian Banana - Yellow banana shape with a somewhat waxy, firm testure - excellent for baking, boiling or steaming.

The numerous varieties of fingerling potatoes are being offered by some of America's finest restaurants. The fingerlings are widely available at retail, and are appearing with more frequency on home menus as well. They are small, some are moist, waxy, dry, and include some of the most striking colors. Ideal of roasting, parboiling and then grilled, the fingerling varieties are simply wonderful! Note: the fingerling potato was discovered in the 16th century by a European famer. The origin of the fingerling is the Andes Mountain regions of Peru.

The most famous potao in North America is a baking type - large, thick skinned, with a somewhat dry, mealy texture most appropriate for baking or mashing. The smaller potatoes - creamers, b-size, fingerlings - hold their shape after cooking and are good for salads.

Yellow/Gold Potatoes:

Yukon Gold - Very common in Euope and South America, the Yukon Gold potato is becoming more in demand in the US, and enjoys year-round availability. Excellent for baking, boiling, grilling and mashing - golden flesh offers a buttery, nutty flavor. Developed in Canada, and is a cross between a North American white Norgleam potato with a wild South American yellow potato.

Other yellow varieties: Yellow Finns, Delta Golds, Donnas, Banana, Saginaw Gold.

Fact: Consumption of white potatoes in the US is decling, due in part to the introduction of more attractive, flavorful yellow, purple and specialized fingerling varieties.

Today, we have many choices in the potato family. Yellows, pinks, reds, purples, blues, whites. Some potatoes are labeled "boiling", "baking", "roasting", "salad", "mashing". Early harvest are introduced as "new". Main crop potatoes include those that store well: russets, chefs, reds.

Potatoes have a high concentration of carbohydrates, and provide good amounts of proteins, minerals - potassium and calcium - vitamin C. Potatoes do contain glycoalkaloids - toxic compounds - and are mostly destroyed by cooking. Exposure to light causes potatoes to turn green, and should be discarded and not used when this greening occurs. The fingerlings and new hybrids being introduced contain less solaine (glycoalkaloids), and the nutrients under the skin where the glycoalkaloids are highest in concentration, are not lost. The potatoes used for frying are peeled, and generally in long storage, and are very low in nutritional content, and when combined with the additional fat, are best avoided as an everyday menu item. The potato yield from one acre will feed twice as many as one acre of wheat!

Russets, round whites, long whites, round reds, yellows, purples, blues, finger- Lings, baby varieties - the culinary applications are endless! Salads with other vegetables, roasted with fresh herbs, colorful mashed yellows or purples, baked and re-stuffed with other foods (vegetables, cheese, fresh herbs), boring potato dishes are fortunately behind us.