The weather is getting colder, and it is time for some “stick to the ribs” food. Nutritionists tell us that potatoes provide five times more protein and calories than wheat, corn or soybeans. How about some potato soup?
According to historians, the potato is the least acclaimed of all the Spanish discoveries and conquests. However, as valuable as the potato is as a food, only its tubers are harmless and edible. Although there are 2,000 species of the potato, only eight varieties are cultivated commercially.
I was amazed to find that China grows 19% of the world’s potatoes. Taiwan grew them in the mid-1600s and introduced them to Europe. Russia got potatoes in the 17th century. Peter the Great served them at royal banquets. Russian peasants considered potatoes to be unclean and un-Christian, calling them “Devil’s Apples.”
By the 16th century, Spanish explorers brought potatoes back to Europe from their travels to Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia. Many of the Europeans grew potatoes only for their flowers, as did the Japanese.
Like many foods, potatoes gained a reputation of having curative powers. They were prescribed for gout, sore throats, rheumatism and toothaches. The Irish were convinced that potato-cooking water would heal sprains and broken bones. The Dutch believed that this same water could cause warts — and also believed that warts could be removed by rubbing them with a cut potato.
One thing potatoes were used for, which worked, was to prevent scurvy among ship’s crews. However beneficial potatoes were, they were blamed for causing all kinds of diseases, such as rickets, indigestion and leprosy.
England was slow to accept potatoes when Sir Francis Drake brought them to the attention of Queen Elizabeth. Ireland, only 60 miles across the Irish Sea, took to them immediately. Potatoes could be hidden easily when English soldiers came to inventory a farm’s assets. Soon, the Irish were consuming about eight pounds of potatoes per capita — not in a month, nor a week, but every day. The saying goes that there are only two things too serious to joke about in Ireland — marriage and potatoes.
By the 18th century, potatoes began to receive some respect as viable produce. Their chief champion was a French chemist, Antoine Parmentier. His name is always attached to an elegant potato soup— Potage Parmentier.
As a prisoner during the Seven Years’ War in Germany, Parmentier subsisted mainly on potatoes, which were thought at the time fit only for pigs. After returning home from the war, and after the famine of 1770, he wrote a prizewinning paper on the potato, which got great attention. When Ben Franklin was serving as ambassador to France his dinners frequently consisted of only potato dishes.
In some towns in the Massachusetts colony, potatoes were considered the spoor of witches. This may have come about because they were considered to be new and different, and because they matured unseen beneath the earth (the devil’s playground). Probably the reason people did not trust the potato was because many people suffered from eating the poisonous leaves and berries of the potato plant instead of the tubers.
Potatoes enjoyed great favor in America. They arrived via the West Indies in 1613 and via Irish immigrants in 1719. By the mid-19th century, the railroads transported farmers along their rights of way to grow potatoes.
In Maine, the potato industry got under way in 1890, helped by the railroad, which was built to ship lumber. So ideal were the potato-growing conditions in Maine that an acre yielded about 108 bushels of potatoes. However, today, Maine has less land planted in potatoes than Idaho. Our biggest producer of potatoes is California, with Idaho a close second.
Idaho potatoes are drier, mealier and fluffier than those grown in other states. This makes them ideal for baking and French fries. However, in Idaho, potatoes are no small business — around $2 billion a year in Russet Burbanks and White Rose varieties.
The Russet potato is the descendant of one developed in 1873 by Luther Burbank, who found a seedball in his mother’s Massachusetts garden and took it from there. Although the potato was brought to Idaho in 1836 by the Rev. Henry H. Spalding, it was not the kind that is raised today by 20% of Idaho’s workforce.
In the United States, we consume more than 5 billion pounds of processed French fries every year. That is in addition to the freshly made fries that are fried at home and in better restaurant kitchens.
Potato chips account for another whopping statistic: nearly $5 billion in annual sales. They were originally known as Saratoga Chips for the New York horseracing village and spa where they were born.
In the 1850s, George Crum, the chef at a Saratoga restaurant called Moon’s Lake House, learned that a diner had complained that the French fries coming from the kitchen were too thick for his tastes.
Angered by the criticism, Crum took a batch of fresh potatoes, sliced them paper-thin, and plunged them into a pot of boiling oil. The man who received the potato chips made a lot of noise about how wonderful they were. These potato chips soon became a nationwide sensation. Today, they are available in a variety of flavors, including Cheddar and onion, garlic, barbecue and Cajun.
Mashed potatoes were first known in this country as a Pennsylvania Dutch dish. Until 1850, mashed potatoes were called Dutch or German potatoes. French fried potatoes did not become fashionable until the 1870s.
When I was growing up, cold weather frequently meant that there would be my grandmother’s Potato Soup for dinner. She liked to add dill to give the soup extra flavor.
German Potato Soup
3 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
3 carrots, cut into ¼ inch dice
6 potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup snipped fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dry)
In a soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until soft; do not brown. Stir in the carrots and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add bay leaf, cloves, salt and pepper and stir to blend. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables in batches to a food processor and puree until fairly smooth. Return the puree to the soup pot and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Serves 6.
Hilde G. Lee is a food writer and co-author of “Virginia Wine Country III” with her husband, Allan Lee. She can be reached at hildeglee@yahoo.com.
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November 04, 2020 at 06:14AM
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Hilde Lee: Potatoes offer protein, versatility and an extra helping of world history - The Daily Progress
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