Root Crops

         Potato

The potato is credited with the rise of Andean civilizations, including the Incas, who started farming the root crop in 200 BC. The Incas also developed many uses for the potato: raw slices were placed on broken bones, carried to prevent rheumatism, and eaten with other foods to prevent indigestion. Incas also used the potato as a timekeeper: units were correlated to how long it took to cook a potato.

The Spanish conquistadors brought the root crop back to Europe in 1570, where the potato became a feared vegetable. People attributed poison to its strange shape, and to the fact that it was grown below ground. It was accused of causing a variety of diseases, including leprosy, fever, tuberculosis, and rickets. 

When tempers and speculation finally died down in Europe, use of the potato became so widespread that whole populations and races could not live without it. When the potato crop in Ireland was devastated by a fungus, causing the “Irish Potato Famine,” and forcing many Irish to immigrate. The population of Ireland decreased by nearly two million from 1847 to 1851.

There may be some truth to potato’s poisonous reputation, however: its wild relatives are in fact very toxic due to the presence of molecules called glycoalkaloids, which have caused severe human poisonings and near-death. 

Did you know… 

Biotech potatoes are already available on the market and are engineered to be resistant to the Colorado potato beetle, Potato Virus Y, or to Potato Leafroll Virus. In the works: Potatoes with higher calcium or protein content, resistance to late blight, and the ability to grow in near-freezing temperatures.