The potato is a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas, from Canada to southern Chile.
Where are potatoes from?
Stories About the Origin of Potatoes: Tubers Have Been Around For Thousands of Years Potatoes have an incredibly rich and interesting history. For thousands of years, they were cultivated by the Incas in Peru .
Moreover, where did Potatoes originate?
Let us dig in! potato ceramic from the Moche culture ( Larco Museum Collection ). The potato was first domesticated in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BC.
Where do potatoes grow in North America?
Most modern potatoes grown in North America arrived through European settlement and not independently from the South American sources, although at least one wild potato species, Solanum fendleri, naturally ranges from Peru into Texas, where it is used in breeding for resistance to a nematode species that attacks cultivated potatoes.
This of course begs the question “What is the history of potatoes in South America?”
Some believe that Cultivation of potatoes in South America may go back 10,000 years , but tubers do not preserve well in the archaeological record, making identification difficult. The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains have been found at the coastal site of Ancón (central Peru), dating to 2500 BC.
How many potatoes are grown in the world?
The total world production for potatoes in the most last recorded year of 2017 was 388,190,674 . 25.6% of the world’s potato supply comes from China and the top 5 producers make up 56.6%. The information does not contain sweet potato production. Top Potato Growing Countries 1 – China, 99,205,580 metric tons of potatoes per year.
This of course begs the question “What is the scientific name of potato?”
Our answer was solanum zykinii Lechn. The potato is a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas, from Canada to southern Chile.