The potato is such a common vegetable choice these days that it appears in at least one meal a day in the Western hemisphere, especially in winter when mashed and baked potatoes are great comfort foods. However the potato was once an object of revulsion and suspicion. It is a member of the Solanaceae family which is the nightshade one, so it has some toxins in its stems and leaves, and you really shouldn’t eat one that has a green tings to it. Its Latin name, Solanum tuberosum, means the soothing root while the word potato has its origins in the Peruvian Quecha language – batata a name now given to the genus of the sweet potato and the yam. Our potato originated in the Andes Mountains of South America some 8,000 years ago, and was cultivated by the people there 6,000 years ago according to archaeological remains. They were “discovered” by the Spanish explorers of the 16th century and were taken back to Spain where they had a mixed reception.

Sir Walter Raleigh the English buccaneer is credited with taking them to Britain in 1589 and he grew them on his estate near Cork in Ireland. One story has it that he introduced the soothing root to Queen Elizabeth I and she ordered a banquet to be prepared featuring the new plant in every course. Unfortunately no one bothered to tell the chefs how to cook them so they threw away the tuber and fed guests the stems and flowering tops, all of which contain toxins. The courtiers fell ill, some fatally and the potato was banned from the royal court.
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