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8000 BCE
Discovery of Potatoes
The earliest accounts known of potatoes being cultivated date back to the Incan Indians in Peru sometime 8000 BC in the High Andes Mountains. -
5000 BCE
Characteristics of Potatoes
The potato is a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The Incas were the first dehydrators and they preserved their potatoes for storage by dehydrating and mashing them into a substance they named chuñu. -
1536
Spread of Potatoes to Europe
In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, discovered the flavors of the potato, and carried them to Europe. While searching for gold, the Spanish employed Incan men as miners and observed them eating chuñu. As time passed, they adopted chuñu as part of their ship's provisioning and they took them back to Spain on return voyages over the next 40 years. -
Spread of Potatoes to North America
The first permanent potato patches in North America were established in 1719, most likely near Londonderry, NH, by Scotch-Irish immigrants. From there, the crop spread across the country. -
French Fries
One enduring origin story holds that french fries were invented by street vendors on the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris in 1789, just before the outbreak of the French Revolution. -
Potato Chips
The potato chip was invented in 1853 by George Crum. Crum was a chef at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in New York, USA. French fries were popular at the restaurant, and one day a diner complained that the fries were too thick. Although Crum made a thinner batch, the customer was still unsatisfied. Crum finally made fries that were too thin to eat with a fork, hoping to annoy the extremely fussy customer. The customer, surprisingly enough, was happy – and potato chips were invented. -
Burbank Potato
A major step forward in potato cultivation was made in 1872 when the botanist Luther Burbank discovered that the Early Rose potato produced a seed ball, and he was able to breed plants with larger potatoes whose yield sometimes doubled or tripled that of its parent. The resulting progeny became known as the Burbank potato, now commonly called the “Idaho” potato. -
Potato Research and Breeding
By the 1960s, the Canadian Potato Research Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick, was one of the top six potato research institutes in the world. Established in 1952 as a Dominion Experimental Station, the station began to concentrate on breeding new varieties of disease-resistant potatoes. -
Klondike Potatoes
In August 2002, Potandon Produce L.L.C. introduced the US retail community to its Klondike Rose potato, the first of many new varieties of fresh potatoes that would soon follow. The introduction of the Klondike Rose potato marked a new era in the fresh potato industry, as it was the first significant new variety to capture mainstream attention nationwide and brought much-needed excitement to a stagnant category.