Discovering Potato Nutrition History
One of the most popular and versatile foods in the United States is the potato; nutrition facts for the delicious vegetable show it also to be a great choice as a low fat, cholesterol free food, along with many other positive dietary considerations. The humble potato has a long, fascinating history that spans over many years and countries.
While Americans eat an estimated 125 pounds of potatoes each and every year, we were not the first to recognize the nutritional value of this vegetable. The roots, if you’ll pardon the pun, of the first potato can be traced as far back as 500 B.C. in the ruins of Peru and Chile. “Papas” were revered by the ancient Incan civilization, which grew them in abundance, ate them regularly, and treated the potato as a valued possession. They were the first to develop a dehydrated form of the vegetable when they dried potatoes in order to carry them on long journeys. To eat them, they were restored when added to soups and stews. In the mid 1500’s, Spanish conquistadors seeking gold discovered the Inca’s cultivation of potatoes instead. Recognition of the potato nutrition was apparent when the Spaniards, taking the potato home with them, also ate them while onboard the ships. When it was noted that those sailors who ate potatoes did not suffer from scurvy, the vegetable became a staple on the Spanish ships.
The potato soon became very well traveled, as it was carried to Italy, England, Belgium, Germany, Austria and France by the early 1600’s. The reception of the tuber was not positive here, however. It became known as an evil thing; the cause of many serious diseases and illnesses. It was actually banned in a village in France, with the threat of fines to anyone caught cultivating it.
One man, St. Walter Raleigh, brought a potato plant to his beloved Queen Elizabeth in the late 1500’s. The cooks, unfamiliar with the strange looking tubers, discarded them; cooking instead the stems and leaves of the plant to serve to guests. Unfortunately, they were unaware that these potato plant parts are poisonous, resulting in mass illness to all who ate them. As a result, the potato was banned from the Queen’s court.
The 18th century saw a successful introduction of the potato to the United States. A few Scotch-Irish immigrants began planting the potato in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1719, and set off a chain reaction of potato growth across the nation. Finally, potato nutrition was receiving the acclaim it deserved; or was it? Potato history shows that in the mid 1800’s, potatoes were being used more as animal food than it was for human consumption. Then, in the late 1800’s, the Russet Burbank potato was developed by Luther Burbank as he attempted to improve upon the traditional Irish potato. By the early 1900’s, the Russet Burbank potato was spreading across Idaho in the United States as a crop.
Within the past couple of hundred years, the potato has grown in popularity to be a valuable asset and a staple in the American diet. In fact, this vegetable is second only to rice as a commonly consumed side dish.
Eating potatoes is a benefit to a healthy diet. A medium baked potato, for example, has about 160 calories, about 4 grams of fiber including the skin, 4 grams of protein, no fat (in its natural form with nothing added), double the potassium of a banana, and a good supply of vitamin C. While many people feel that potatoes are bland in flavor, adding butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon are not the solution when nutrition is considered. However, adding salsa, herbs, vegetarian chili and low fat cheeses are not only delicious alternatives but healthy choices as well. (continued...)