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The potato later arrived in Europe sometime before the end of the 16th century by two different ports of entry: the first in Spain around 1570, [18] and the second via the British Isles between 1588 and 1593. The first written mention of the potato is a receipt for delivery dated 28 November 1567 between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Antwerp.
In the 1840s, infestations of Phytophthora infestans devastated a series of potato harvests, leading to widespread famine and emigration. The cumulative effects of both catastrophes, exacerbated by British rule, lowered Ireland's total population by approximately 2 million , of which approximately 1 million were fatalities.
The potato (/ p ə ˈ t eɪ t oʊ /) is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile.
These potatoes also have coloured skin, but many varieties with pink or red skin have white or yellow flesh, as do the vast majority of cultivated potatoes. The yellow colour, more or less marked, is due to the presence of carotenoids. Varieties with coloured flesh are common among native Andean potatoes, but relatively rare among modern varieties.
The Red Pontiac (also known as Dakota Chief) is a red-skinned early main crop potato variety originally bred in the United States, [1] and is sold in the United States, Canada, Australia, Marruecos, the Philippines, Venezuela and Uruguay. It arose as a color mutant of the original Pontiac variety in Florida [2] by a J.W. Weston in 1945. [3]
The introduction of the potato also brought about the first intensive use of fertilizer, in the form of guano imported to Europe from Peru, and the first artificial pesticide, in the form of an arsenic compound used to fight Colorado potato beetles. Before the adoption of the potato as a major crop, the dependence on grain had caused repetitive ...
Special Baked Potatoes. For a nifty way to spice up plain old potatoes, try Tressa Surdick's recipe. To make them, she slices the spuds, then seasons them before baking.
In the 1860s, a schoolteacher who lived among Makah, James Swan, indicated that the potato was a staple of the tribe's diet alongside fish, seal, and whale oil. [7] The potato was not grown outside of Makah gardens until the 1980s, when it was marketed independently by a seed vendor in Idaho (Ronniger's Potato Farm) under the name of Ozette.