Good morning 🌞 friends, today let's meet an underground gem turned culinary star , the humble and versatile, Mr. Potato.
🥔🌿The potato 🥔, often misunderstood as a root tuber, is actually an underground storage stem of the plant Solanum tuberosum. 🌱✨ You can spot its "eyes," that are actually stem nodes, from which new leaves emerge, revealing its true stem nature.
🗓️ Around 7,000–10,000 years ago, Native Americans in the region south of present-day Peru domesticated potatoes. 🌄🥔
🥔🌿Introduced to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century, potatoes have since become a staple food worldwide, ranking as the 4th largest food crop after corn 🌽, wheat 🌾, and rice 🍚.
🥔🌿While the potato tuber itself, rich in starch, is safe for consumption, the plant's stems, leaves, and fruits contain the toxin solanine, which is harmful to humans.💀❌
🥔🌿The word "potato" comes from the Spanish "Patata," a hybrid of the Caribbean word "Batata" (for sweet potato) 🍠and the Peruvian "Papa" (for potato) 🥔.
🌿Despite their visual similarities, sweet potatoes🍠 and potatoes🥔 have distinct botanical lineages—Potato hails from Solanaceae, while Sweet Potato from Convolvulaceae.
🥔🌿The potato plant, a herbaceous perennial, bears simple leaves and white, pink, or purple flowers adorned with yellow stamens. Insects 🐝 help in cross-pollination.
🌿Green cherry tomato-like🍒 fruits emerge, each housing around 300 seeds. Yet, beware—they're toxic and inedible. When propagating, tubers are the reliable choice over seeds.
🥔👨🍳Remember, potatoes should always be cooked, never consumed raw, as raw potato starch is tough on human digestion.
🥔🌿Potatoes are used in various cuisines across the globe today.
From its indigenous origins to potato wedges and fries 🍟 of modern food chains, the potato has come a long way to become the evergreen global favourite . 🌎🥔 Now that sounds like an inspiring ,rags to riches ,story of a versatile tuber! 😉🥔🍽️
Reference
Plants of Singapore
