|
All Hail The Humble Spud!
Sláinte - By Edythe Preet
 Back in first grade my See Spot Run primer told how Dick and Jane grew potatoes
in their backyard and roasted them in an autumn leaf bonfire. If those kids
can do that, I thought, so can I. Mom supplied a few spuds that had begun to
sprout ‘eyes,’ and we buried them in a skimpy strip of dirt edging
our row-house driveway. Impatiently, as summer dragged on, I watched my precious
potato vine overflow onto the cement.
When the leaves on our neighborhood trees began turning autumn colors and the
lumpy dirt suggested there might actually be some potatoes hiding under the
soil, a little digging yielded a modest mound of petite spuds. The joy of harvesting
was only minimally diminished when Mom drew the line at roasting my crop under
a pile of leaves in the city street, and baked them in the oven along with a
celebratory roast. At dinner that night Dad swore they were the best taters
he had ever tasted, and I went to bed dreaming of the piles of spuds I would
harvest the following year, which of course never happened.
In the intervening decades, I have eaten potatoes boiled, broiled, baked, roasted,
fried, mashed and hashed. Hot and cold, crisp and fluffy, plain and embellished,
jackets on and jackets off. I make potato salad infrequently because after one
bite I have to employ strict self-discipline not to eat the whole bowlful. The
same is true for potatoes au gratin, potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary,
or even plain-jane mashed potatoes and gravy. Mildly put, I am a potato addict.
Some of the blame can be ascribed to my Irish heritage. Ask anyone where potatoes
were first grown and odds are you’ll be told ‘Ireland.’ Nothing
could be further from the truth. Potatoes were unknown to the Western palate
until the discovery of the New World. As the Conquistadors marched through South
America pillaging ancient civilizations for treasure, the foods they discovered
proved far more valuable than the gold they sought. From the holds of Spanish
galleons, potatoes found their way to farms and gardens all over Europe.
There are Irish folk tales of potatoes washing ashore from wrecks of the Spanish
armada that stalked the British seas during the reign of Elizabeth I. Local
myth tells that Sir Francis Drake brought the South American tubers back from
an expedition in 1586 and gave some seedlings to his friend Sir Walter Raleigh,
who planted them at his estate in Youghall, County Cork.
The new vegetable quickly became a staple crop of the island’s agricultural
economy. Potatoes were a godsend. They were easy to grow, requiring only an
initial planting with minimal tending. They were easy to cook, needing only
a pot and a fire. And they were abundant. Supplemented with plenty of fresh
whole milk, greens, and a bit of meat, fish or eggs, a good potato harvest meant
that the average farm family had ready access to a nutritious diet.
For nearly two hundred years the ancient South American plant nourished Ireland’s
poor. Then disaster struck. In the warm, wet summer of 1845, a fungus attacked
the potato crop, and as winds carried the invisible spores from county to county,
green fields turned black in days and the tubers rotted. Blights had troubled
local areas before, notably Mayo (1831) and Donegal (1836). This time the infestation
was national. Again, in 1846 tragedy descended. More than two-thirds of the
harvest rotted, and in some western areas the crop was lost completely. Blight
struck again in 1849 and 1851.
With the main food source for people and livestock destroyed five times in seven
years, Ireland was devastated. One and a half million people died of starvation,
cholera, and famine fever. Another million emigrated. In the following decades,
the tide of emigration swelled to a flood as millions more fled the specter
of starvation. More than one million Irish immigrants came to the United States,
bringing with them their love for spuds.
Initially, Americans were suspicious of potatoes as they belong to the botanical
nightshade family that includes many poisonous plants. While it’s true
that the potato plant’s leaves are toxic, the tubers are perfectly safe
for consumption. Even so, most Americans chose to feed spuds to their pigs rather
than serve them at the family dinner table. But the Irish knew a good thing
when they bit into it, and when they began arriving by the boatload, the tide
of American anti-potato-ism started to shift. Today, more than 1.3 million acres
across 35 states are planted in potatoes with an annual yield of nearly half
a billion bushels. Considering that several dozen potatoes are contained in
every bushel, the actual yearly U.S. spud count is in the trillions. While Ireland’s
size naturally limits the total tonnage of its crop, the Irish are among the
world’s heartiest potato-eaters with average annual consumption weighing
in at a hefty 319 pounds per person.
Ireland and the United States are not the only countries where spuds have taken
firm dietary root. In that potatoes are fat- and cholesterol-free, and one serving
of a 5.3 ounce, medium potato provides 45 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin
C, 21 percent of the Daily Value for potassium, three grams of fiber, and only
100 calories, spuds pack an impressive nutritional punch. Add to that the success
with which they are cultivated and it’s easy to see how the potato has
become a vital food staple all over the world with production growing faster
than any food crop except for wheat.
Until the early 1990s, most potatoes were grown and consumed in Europe, North
America, and countries of the former Soviet Union. Since then, there has been
a dramatic increase in potato production and demand in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America, three continents where output rose from less than 30 million tons in
the early 1960s to more than 165 million tons in 2007. In 2005, for the first
time, the developing world’s potato production exceeded that of the developed
world. China is now the biggest potato producer.
To honor the humble spud’s value as a global dietary mainstay, the United
Nations has designated 2008 as the International Year of the Potato. Everywhere,
people have discovered the wisdom of the time-honored Irish proverb: “Be
eating one potato, peeling a second, have a third in your fist, and your eye
on a fourth.” I’ve even planted a patch of spuds again. And when
they’re harvested, in addition to champ and colcannon, I’ll be cooking
them up in an international rainbow of recipes. Sláinte!
RECIPES
Potato Curry [Personal Recipe]
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 spring onions, minced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 green chile, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons butter
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 small cinnamon stick, broken
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 cardamom pod, opened
1/3 cup plain yogurt
Boil the potatoes in water until just tender, then drain. Grind the spring onions,
garlic, ginger and chile to a paste and cook in the butter for 2 minutes. Add
tomatoes, cinnamon, mustard seeds, garam masala and cardamom and cook for 2-3
minutes, stirring. Add the yogurt and cook to a thick sauce. Add the potatoes
and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Makes 4 servings.
Hawaiian Potato Salad [Personal Recipe]
4 large red potatoes, unpeeled
and cubed
2 large carrots, peeled and cubed
1/2 medium red onion, minced
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 pound lobster meat, shredded
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt & pepper
Boil the potatoes and carrots in water until just tender, then drain and combine
with onion, peas and lobster meat. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper
to taste. Chill until ready to eat. Makes 4-6 servings. (Note: any of the ingredients
can be increased to taste.)
Left-Over Baked Potato Pan Fry[Personal Recipe]
2 left-over chilled baked potatoes
1 green bell pepper, seeded and
cut in chunks
1 red bell pepper, seeded and
cut in chunks
1 onion, sliced medium thick
2 tablespoons butter
salt & pepper
Cut baked potatoes into bite-size chunks, do not remove skins. Melt butter in
a heavy frying pan and sauté peppers and onion until slightly wilted.
Add potato chunks and continue frying, stirring frequently and scraping any
browned bits into the mix, until potatoes are browned and vegetables are fully
cooked. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with fried or scrambled eggs. Makes
4 servings.
Mom’s Potatoes Au Gratin [Personal Recipe]
2 large baking potatoes, peeled
flour
butter
salt & pepper
milk (approximately 2 cups)
Slice potatoes very thin. Layer potato slices in a small casserole, dusting
each layer with flour, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and small bits of butter.
When casserole is full, pour in milk to cover. Bake in a 350F oven for approximately
45 minutes or until top is nicely browned and a knife inserted into the potatoes
indicates they are cooked tender. Makes 4 servings.
|
