Central and South America Some were cultivated 8,000 years ago Spanish explorers brought one species, Solanum tuberosum, from Peru or Colombia to Europe around 1570 Because it was hardy and easy to grow, the potato was inexpensive and the poor were its principal consumers (An Irish peasant ate 5–10 pounds per day at the time of the 1845 blight.) It now leads all other vegetables in worldwide production More potatoes are consumed in the United States than any other vegetable, around a third of a pound/150 gm per person per day The potato is a tuber, the tip of an underground stem that swells with stored starch and water and bears primordial buds, the “eyes,” that generate the stem and roots of a new plant It is sometimes a little sweet, with a slight but characteristic bitterness, and has a mild earthy flavor from a compound (a pyrazine) produced by soil microbes, but also apparently within the tuber itself Harvest and Storage True “new” potatoes are immature tubers, harvested from green vines during the late spring and throughout the summer They are moist and sweet, relatively low in starch, and perishable Mature potatoes are harvested in the fall The vines are killed by cutting or drying, and the tubers are left in the soil for several weeks to “cure” and toughen their skin Potatoes can be stored in the dark for months, during which their flavor intensifies; slow enzyme action generates fatty, fruity, and flowery notes from cellmembrane lipids The ideal storage temperature is 45–50ºF/7–10ºC At warmer temperatures they may sprout or decay, and at colder temperatures their metabolism shifts in a complicated way that results in the breakdown of some starch to sugars Makers of potato chips must “recondition” cold-stored potatoes at room temperature for several weeks to reduce their levels of glucose and fructose, which otherwise cause the chips to ... harvested in the fall The vines are killed by cutting or drying, and the tubers are left in the soil for several weeks to “cure” and toughen their skin Potatoes can be stored in the dark for months, during which their flavor...Harvest and Storage True “new” potatoes are immature tubers, harvested from green vines during the late spring and throughout the summer They are moist and sweet, relatively low in starch, and perishable... temperatures they may sprout or decay, and at colder temperatures their metabolism shifts in a complicated way that results in the breakdown of some starch to sugars Makers of potato chips must “recondition” cold-stored