The history of the origin and spread of potatoes: where potatoes come from and how they gained their popularity

The history of the appearance of potatoes in Europe and Russia is shrouded in legends and resembles an adventure novel. The culture did not immediately win the love of people because of the fear of everything new and exotic. In Germany, there were rumors about the toxicity of the tubers, so the potatoes were called “Kraft Teufel” - “devil’s power”. In Tsarist Russia, peasants staged potato riots, which indicated extreme hostility towards the culture.

We’ll tell you in the article where potatoes come from and what path they had to overcome to gain the love of the people of many countries around the world.

Homeland of potatoes

The South American Andes are the birthplace of the modern potato. The mountains, unpromising from an agricultural point of view, became the first region on the planet where agriculture originated.

About 10 thousand years ago, ancient Indian tribes mastered the technology of cultivating potatoes. The culture was loved by local residents for its ease of care and the ability growing on poor and excessively wet soil.

Reference. The first wild tubers were discovered in the settlement of Ancon in northern Peru. This find is about 4.5 thousand years old. On the shore of Lake Titicaca, during excavations, an ancient potato field was found, which was cultivated in the 4th century BC. e.

History of appearance and first mentions

The first written mentions of potatoes are recorded in Spanish documents.They describe in detail the conquest of the lands of South America (modern states - Colombia and Venezuela). The authors of the historical summary are Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, Juan de Castellanos, Pascual de Andagoya, Fernandez de Oviedo. The report “A Brief Summary of the Conquest of the New Kingdom of Granada” talks about the inhabitants of these lands, their way of life, and food preferences.

The main food of the Indians was maize, yucca and tubers, reminiscent of a truffle and a turnip at the same time, called “cubias”. We are talking about a crop that is already familiar to us - potatoes.

In the manuscript of the anonymous “Dictionary and Grammar of the Chibcha Language,” dated to the beginning of the 17th century, There are different types of potatoes:

• animal truffle;
• truffle, root;
• yellow truffle;
• wide truffle;
• long truffle.

Another Spanish conqueror, Pascual de Andagoya, in his notes talked about tubers resembling large chestnuts or turnips.

The historian Pedro Cieza de Leon in the Chronicles of Peru (1553) gave a detailed description of the potato, thanks to which Europeans learned about the origin of the culture. In his work, the author mentions that he saw tubers in Ecuador and Colombia. Using the information of the conquistadors and his observations as a basis, the historian described the method of storing and preparing tubers.

Before the arrival of European conquistadors in the 16th century, potatoes were actively grown and consumed by Andean peoples. A dish called chuño was prepared from the tubers. At first, potatoes were frozen at night in the mountains and defrosted during the day. The procedure was repeated several times and periodically kneaded with hands. The freezing-thawing process made it possible to remove moisture from the tubers and obtain a completely dehydrated product. Dry potatoes were stored for a long time without losing their nutritional qualities.Before use, flour was prepared from the balls and cakes were baked, soup was cooked, and added to meat and vegetables.

Thanks to research conducted in 2007, it was possible to find out that the first planting of potatoes outside of South America began in the Canary Islands in the 1560s. Ships sailing between the New and Old Worlds stopped there. The tubers came here from several places, and not from one, as was commonly thought. From the islands, the overseas product came to Spain, and from there it spread to other countries.

Potatoes in Europe

Scientists have not yet come to a consensus about the appearance of potatoes in Europe. The championship was given to the English Vice Admiral Francis Drake for a long time. The legend about the famous pirate and potatoes quickly acquired new details. It was rumored that the admiral brought potatoes to his friend Gerard, and he treated the English parliamentarians to tops and tubers fried in oil. It later turned out that Drake's ships never moored on the shores of South America.

The second popular version says that potatoes were brought to England by Sir Walter Romef. But it was also debunked by historians, since it is known for certain that at that time they did not know about the culture in Virginia.

According to the third version, for the appearance of potatoes in Europe, one should thank the monk Neronimus Cordan, who lowered the first basket of tubers to the Spanish shore in 1580.

A more plausible theory is that it was Cies de Leon who brought potatoes from Peru in 1551. The first mention of eating the product also refers to Spain. In 1573, tubers were included in the list of food baskets prepared for the Hospital of the Blood of Jesus in Seville.The culture then spread to other European countries: Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Great Britain.

How potatoes were brought to Russia

At the end of the 17th century, Peter I brought potatoes from Holland and gave the order to distribute them throughout the provinces. However, the culture did not spread. The peasants were wary of the overseas vegetable and refused to cultivate it in the fields.

The “Historical Information on the Introduction of Potato Culture in Russia” says that the foreign innovation was liked by certain representatives of the aristocracy, mainly foreigners. During the reign of Empress Anna, potato dishes began to appear on tables, which were rated as tasty, but not tasty.

First culinary recipes

The authorship of the first cookbook with recipes for cooking potatoes belongs to the cook of the prince-bishops of Liege - Lancelot de Casto. A book called Ouverture de cuisine was published in 1604 and contained four recipes for preparing dishes from tubers exotic to Europeans:

1. In the first recipe, the cook recommends boiling the tubers, cutting them into pieces and seasoning them with butter and black pepper.
2. In the second option, the potatoes need to be cut into slices and stewed in red wine with butter and a pinch of nutmeg.
3. The third recipe involves stewing tubers with butter, fresh marjoram, parsley and beaten egg yolks with wine.
4. In the fourth version, potatoes were baked in ash, peeled and cut into pieces. Sprinkle with mint, raisins, pepper and pour over vinegar.

The recipes do not contain salt due to its presence in the butter.

Read also:

Features of storing potatoes in a garage without a cellar.

What is potato late blight: description of the disease and treatment methods.

High-yielding, frost-resistant potato variety “Zhuravinka”.

Popularization of culture

European potatoes come from Canarian and Spanish potatoes. From the Iberian Peninsula it came to Italy and the Netherlands and became a frequent dish on the tables of different segments of the population. In other European countries, botanists were engaged in plant breeding.

The popularization of potatoes in Europe was difficult. Its spread was slowed down varieties with bitterness. Tubers and tops contained large amounts of solanine, which made them unsuitable even for feeding livestock. Storing tubers required certain skills; most of the crop turned green or rotted. In this regard, unpleasant rumors circulated about potatoes. People were afraid to eat tubers, believing that this would lead to the development of diseases.

Ireland has become one of the few European countries where eating potatoes has become the norm, along with oatmeal. In the 18th century, the product saved the Irish from hunger, but in the 19th century it led to a national disaster. The reason was infection of the crop with late blight brought from Mexico. In 1845 there was a major potato crop failure, which was repeated in 1846. The scale of the famine is staggering: according to the 1851 census, the country's population decreased by 1.5 million people over 10 years.

In Lithuania and Belarus, the crop began to be grown in the middle of the 18th century, but until the 20th century it did not play an important role in nutrition. The potato revolution in Belarus occurred during the First World War. Then the tubers began to be eaten due to a shortage of grain. Today the country ranks 9th in the world in potato cultivation.

On the territory of France, culture appeared during the reign of Louis XVI.Local residents gave the tubers an interesting name - “pom de terre”, which means “earth apple”. At first, the product was not accepted and they refused to grow and prepare dishes from it, considering it rough food. Until the end of the 18th century, potato flowers were used as decoration, they were worn as hair decorations and vignettes.

In 1755, during a period of severe famine, the Paris Academy announced a competition for new food products. The pharmacist Antoine Auguste Parmentier wrote a work on the chemical composition of the culture, for which he received a reward.

Despite the fact that by the end of the 18th century the beneficial properties of potatoes became known, peasants refused to grow them. European monarchs tried their best to dissuade the people, resorting to the “carrot and stick” method. For example, in England, peasants were promised rewards in the form of gold medals. A dubious method was used by the Prussian king Frederick William I. He issued a cruel decree - to cut off the ears and noses of those who refused to grow potatoes.

The Dutch and Flemings were the first to discover the economic benefits of growing crops. The cultivation of grain crops caused difficulties, so they decided to abandon them and take up livestock farming, which required a considerable amount of feed. At first, the Dutch fed turnips to pigs and cows, then switched to potatoes. The crop grew without problems on poor soils and was more nutritious.

Catherine I took up the task of popularizing culture in Rus'. In 1765, 57 barrels of tubers were delivered from Germany for the purpose of humanitarian aid to starving Finnish peasants. At the same time, by decree of the mistress, tubers with instructions on breeding were sent throughout the empire.The process was led by local governors. However, the good idea was not crowned with success - people stubbornly did not allow the foreign product on their tables, continuing to grow the usual turnips. This continued until the middle of the 19th century.

During the reign of Nicholas I in 1839, the country experienced a famine due to food shortages. The ruler gave the order to plant potatoes in all provinces at the rate of 105 liters (4 measures) per person. In the Moscow province they had to work for free; in Krasnoyarsk, everyone who refused was sent to hard labor. “Potato riots” broke out throughout the country, but they were harshly suppressed. Despite the tsar’s harsh policies, culture became the “second bread.”

Reference. The top three world leaders in potato cultivation include China (88.99 million tons per year), India (45.34 million tons per year) and Russia (30.20 million tons per year).

E. A. Grachev was involved in potato selection in the 19th century. Thanks to his efforts, the American variety (second name - Early Rose) and about 80 more varieties were born. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the famous biologist A.G. Lorch developed the high-yielding variety Lorch.

Conclusion

Having gone through a long path of hostility and condemnation, potatoes have deservedly become one of the staple foods. Thanks to the conquistadors, potatoes came from the harsh climate of the Andean mountains to the more favorable conditions of the Canary Islands, and from there they “moved” to Europe and Russia.

High nutritional value, rich vitamin and mineral composition, the ability to grow in unfavorable conditions - all this has made potatoes the “second bread”. German, French and Russian monarchs contributed to the popularization of culture. Their methods are puzzling, yet they have proven effective.