What slave food is more valuable than Inca gold?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
October 9, 2001
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Assorted Killer Savings Garden Links—>Click here.
Unique Professionally Designed Gardens—>Click here.
Killer Picks: Purple Viking Potato, Red La Soda Potato, O' Henry Sweet Potato—>Click here.
Georgia Jet Sweet Potato, Garden Solutionsr Potato Food—>Click here.
The potato (Solanum tuberosum) [soh lan' um tu ber oh' sum] is often thought of as a lowly thing; a vegetable adjunct, but not central, to our diet. But, worldwide, the potato is the single most important vegetable. It provides nutrition to more than 3 billion people. Only do the grains—rice, wheat, and corn--exceed the production of potatoes.
advertisement
|
|
|
Rose Finn Potato Many Call It the "World's Most Delicious Potato" A classic! Rose Finn Potatoes are slender, finger-shaped tubers have rose-yellow skin and waxy, pale yellow flesh. Unsurpassed for salads, roasting. Stores well.
This Item Ships In The Spring
Click here - $20 off any order for $50 or more at Gurneys.com!
Potato Plants & Potato Sets
Baked, boiled, mashed or fried, potatoes belong in everyone's pantry and garden! Our sets are especially fast and easy- we ship them precut, with just the right amount of flesh around the eye.
|
Potatoes are native to the northern Andes, cultivated there by indigenous groups since 4,000 BC. Archaeological evidence indicates that the native peoples had numerous varieties of potatoes adapted to grow from lowland river valleys to cold montane climates. Potatoes supported the Nasca and Chimu civilizations. They were the mainstay of the Incas. The natives processed this vegetable into flour, freeze-dried potatoes, and dehydrated potato chunks. When the Conquistadores removed the last of the Inca nobles and forced the populace into slavery, they viewed the potato as food for slaves. But potatoes returned with the slaves and gold to Spain.
Within 300 years, potatoes had spread around the world. Varieties were selected and grown on almost every continent because they were adaptable to many soils and did well even when other crops were failing. Until the Irish Potato Famine hit, this lowly plant had virtually eliminated hunger in Europe. Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle (1839) wrote, "It is remarkable that the same plant should be found on the sterile mountains of Central Chile, where a drop of rain does not fall for more than six months, and within the damp forests of the southern islands." Currently, thousands of varieties of the potato are grown around the world. The wealth of the Incas was not the gold.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and the Centro Internacional de la Papa are working to maintain a diverse gene pool so that a single organism cannot destroy the potato crop as happened during the Irish Potato Famine. To view some of the weird and wonderful varieties of potatoes, click on the link:
http://www.cgiar.org/newsroom/photos/potato.html
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
What twelve plants supply most of the food...? Plants that Changed History - Aug 21, 2001
Why should potatoes be stored in the dark? Herbal Folklore - October 8, 2001
What slave food is more valuable than Inca gold? Plants that Changed History - October 9, 2001
What is a hairy potato? Renfield's Garden - October 10, 2001
What is so odd about the color of the petunia? Weird Plants - October 11, 2001
What was the great Potato War? What's in a Name? - October 12, 2001
What common food plant was used for hunting? Herbal Folklore - October 15, 2001
What toxic plant feeds 500 million people? Plants that Changed History - October 16, 2001
What plant was blamed for the deaths of children? Herbal Folklore - October 22, 2001
What Ice Age morning glory feeds millions of people? Plants that Changed History - Oct 23, 2001
How do sweet potatoes protect themselves? Renfielsd's Garden - October 24, 2001
Of witches, werewolves, and UFOs Herbal Folklore - October 29, 2001
Why is the banana like a mule? Weird Plants - November 29, 2001
What canna is edible? Weird Plants - September 19, 2002
Killer Savings Links:
Breck's Bulbs -$25 off—>Click here.
Gurney's Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Spring Hill Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Gardens Alive! -$20 off—>Click here.
Michigan Bulb -$20 off—>Click here.
Unique Professionally Designed Gardens
Springhill Nursery®
Spring Hill Nursery has unique gardens professionally designed by experts to take the guesswork out of gardening. Whether you are looking for a three season garden, foundation garden, or a garden to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, Spring Hill Nursery has created a step-by-step design just for you.
Click here - $20 off your first order at Spring Hill Nursery!
|
BACK TO TOP
