The first scientific description of the potato appeared in 1596, when the Swiss naturalist Gaspard Bauhin awarded it the name Solanum tuberosum esculentum (later simplified to Solanum tuberosum).
What was the original name for potato?
batata
The word potato comes from batata, the Taino (a Caribbean language) word for sweet potato. The Spanish called it patata and that morphed into potato in English.
What is the origin of the potato?
The humble potato was domesticated in the South American Andes some 8,000 years ago and was only brought to Europe in the mid-1500s, from where it spread west and northwards, back to the Americas, and beyond.
What did potatoes look like originally?
The first potatoes seen in Europe had tiny tubers the size of peas or cherries. This was because the formation of tubers was regulated by the length of day. Being close to the equator, the Andes experience days and nights of equal length.
When did humans start eating potatoes?
The oldest known evidence of the domestication of potatoes is found in the North Creek Shelter Site in Utah’s Escalante Valley. Potato starch residues have been found on stone grinding tools, which are 10,900 years old.
Why is a potato called a spud?
Among other definitions, a “spud” is a “sharp, narrow spade” used to dig up large rooted plants. Around the mid-19th century (first documented reference in 1845 in New Zealand), this implement of destruction began lending its name to one of the things it was often used to dig up, namely potatoes.
What was the Inca word for potato?
Quechua was the official language of the Inca Empire. The most common word for potato in South America is the Quechua word papa. Originally used in the Inca Empire, the name was later adopted by the Spanish conquerors who spread it further throughout South America and also took it to Europe.
Who ate the first potato?
“Only two things in this world are too serious to be jested on, potatoes and matrimony.” In the ancient ruins of Peru and Chile, archaeologists have found potato remains that date back to 500 B.C. The Incas grew and ate them and also worshipped them.
What country eats most potatoes?
China
China leads the world in potato consumption. However, this is due to its huge population. China isn’t even in the top 10 regarding consumption per capita. Belarus is the most potato loving country with about 181 kg consumed per capita.
How did the Irish prepare potatoes?
The Irish had a peculiar way of cooking potatoes ‘with and without the bone or the moon’ (Wilde 1854:131). This method of cooking the potato pertained to par boiling the potato leaving the core undercooked and was the preferred meal for a labourer with a day’s work to do.
When did Russia get potatoes?
Potatoes were not widely cultivated in Russia until 1850, when Czar Nicholas I began to enforce Catherine’s order. Across the Atlantic, the tuber was first introduced to the colonies in the 1620s when the British governor of the Bahamas sent a gift box of Solanum tuberosum to the governor of the colony of Virginia.
How did the Incas eat potatoes?
The Incans boiled, mashed, roasted, fermented in water to create a sticky toqosh, and ground to a pulp and soaked to create almidón de papa (potato starch). Peruvian potatoes soon formed the basis of the Incan diet, sustaining great cities and Incan armies.
Who invented the potato?
The potato was the first domesticated vegetable in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BCE.
Did cavemen have potatoes?
Our ancestors in the palaeolithic period, which covers 2.5 million years ago to 12,000 years ago, are thought to have had a diet based on vegetables, fruit, nuts, roots and meat. Cereals, potatoes, bread and milk did not feature at all.
Who brought the potato to America?
The ever-exploring Europeans brought the potato into North America in the 1620s when the British governor in the Bahamas made a special gift of them to the governor of Virginia. They spread slowly through the northern colonies, but had much of the same initial reception in North America as they did in Europe.
How did potatoes become food for the poor?
When potatoes arrived in Europe, they quickly became the food of the poor. Peasants who couldn’t afford acreage or a team of oxen or a plough only needed a spade and a garden plot to grow potatoes. (The word ‘spud’ probably comes from the spade used to dig it up.) Unlike grain crops, potatoes can’t easily be stored.
What is the slang word for potato?
In a slang, potato is someone uninteresting,dull,strange ,ugly or fat.
What do Irish call potatoes?
The main Irish word for potato is “práta” (prawh-tah) and it’s this word that is used most of the time.
Why did the Irish eat so many potatoes?
The Irish often used the good land to grow things like wheat and corn that they would sell to pay their rent. This left the farmers with a small piece of land to grow their own food. Potatoes took up very little space and were very nutritious.
What is the Peruvian word for potato?
papa
Chef Bruno sniffed the question and ladled an explanation: In the Quechua language — spoken in many of the Latin American countries — ‘papa’ is tubers. Potatoes, that is. Papa negra is black potato; papa amarilla yellow potato and papa blanca is potato with light brown skin and firm white flesh.
Are all potatoes from Peru?
Potatoes are originally from Peru
After 1536, the Spanish conquistadors conquered Peru, they brought these starchy vegetables back to Europe. It quickly spread across the continent and became one of the most important foods in countries such as Ireland, Germany, and Spain.