Potato History | Gentle Reading For Sleep

Drift off with a calm bedtime reading that helps ease insomnia and restless nights. Relax as Benjamin explores the fascinating story of the potato, blending gentle education with soothing narration designed to help you sleep peacefully.

You’ll discover how this humble tuber shaped cultures, cuisines, and economies across the globe, all while his steady voice lulls you into rest. There’s no whispering or hypnosis here—just fact-filled, calm storytelling to ease anxiety, stress, and sleeplessness. Let your mind wander as you learn and relax, finding rest in this thoughtful bedtime journey. Press play and drift into gentle dreams. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep Podcast,

Where I help you drift off one fact at a time.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster,

And today's episode is about potatoes.

The potato is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas.

It is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world.

Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum,

A perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.

Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile.

Genetic studies show that the cultivated potato has a single origin in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.

Potatoes were domesticated there about 7,

000 to 10,

000 years ago from a species in the Es Prevacol complex.

Many varieties of the potato are cultivated in the Andes region of South America,

Where the species is indigenous.

The Spanish introduced potatoes to Europe in the second half of the 16th century from the Americas.

They are a staple food in many parts of the world and an integral part of much of the world's food supply.

Following centuries of selective breeding,

There are now over 5,

000 different varieties of potatoes.

The potato remains an essential crop in Europe,

Especially northern and eastern Europe,

Where per capita production is still the highest in the world,

While the most rapid expansion in production during the 21st century was in southern and eastern Asia,

With China and India leading the world production as of 2023.

Like the tomato and the nightshades,

The potato is in the genus Solanum.

The aerial parts of the potato contain the toxin solanine.

Normal potato tubers that have been grown and stored properly produce glycoalkaloids in negligible amounts,

But if sprouts and potato skins are exposed to light,

Tubers can become toxic.

The English word potato comes from Spanish patata,

And turned from taíno,

Batata,

Which means sweet potato,

Not the plant now known as simply potato.

The name spud for potato is from the 15th century spud spelled s-p-u-d-d-e,

A short and stout knife or dagger,

Probably related to Danish spydd,

Spear.

Through semantic change,

The general sense of short and thick was transferred to the tuber from around 1840.

At least seven languages,

Afrikaans,

Dutch,

Low Saxon,

French,

West Frisian,

Hebrew,

Persian,

And some variants of German,

Use a term for potato that means earth apple or ground apple.

From an earlier sense of both pome and apple,

Referring in general to an apple-shaped fruit or vegetable.

Michartaters also refer to potatoes as earth apples,

Perhaps under the influence of the Volga Germans.

The South Asian word aloo is from Sanskrit,

Said to mean the edible root of a variety of Amorphophallus peonia folius,

Elephant foot yam,

Which potatoes substituted.

Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow up to one meter high.

The stems are hairy.

The leaves have roughly four pairs of leaflets.

The flowers range from white or pink to blue or purple.

They are yellow at the center and are insect pollinated.

The plant develops tubers to store nutrients.

These are not roots,

But stems that form from thickened rhizomes at the tips of long thin stolons.

On the surface of the tubers,

There are eyes,

Which act as sinks to protect the vegetative buds from which the stems originate.

The eyes are arranged in helical form.

In addition,

The tubers have small holes that allow breathing,

Called lenticels.

The lenticels are circular,

And their number varies depending on the size of the tuber and environmental conditions.

Tubers form in response to decreasing day length,

Although this tendency has been minimized in commercial varieties.

After flowering,

Potato plants produce small green fruits that resemble green cherry tomatoes,

Each containing about 300 very small seeds.

Wild potato species occur from the southern United States to southern Chile.

The potato was first domesticated in southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia by pre-Columbian farmers around Lake Titicaca.

The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains have been found at the coastal site of Ancon,

Central Peru,

Dating to 2500 BC.

The most widely cultivated variety is indigenous to the Chiloé archipelago,

And has been cultivated by the local indigenous peoples since before the Spanish conquest.

Following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire,

The Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the second half of the 16th century as part of the Columbian Exchange.

The staple was subsequently conveyed by European mariners,

Possibly including the Russian-American Company,

To territories and ports throughout the world,

Especially their colonies.

European and colonial farmers were slow to adopt farming potatoes.

However,

After 1750,

They became an important food staple and field crop,

And played a major role in the European 19th century population boom.

According to conservative estimates,

The introduction of the potato was responsible for a quarter of the growth in old world population and urbanization.

Between 1700 and 1900.

However,

A lack of genetic diversity due to the very limited number of varieties initially introduced,

Left the crop vulnerable to disease.

In 1845,

A plant disease known as late blight spread rapidly through the poorer communities of Western Ireland,

As well as parts of the Scottish Highlands,

Resulting in the crop failures that led to the Great Irish Famine.

The International Potato Center,

Based in Lima,

Peru,

Holds 4870 types of potato germplasm,

Most of which are traditional land-raised cultivars.

In 2009,

A draft sequence of the potato genome was made,

Containing 12 chromosomes and 860 million base pairs,

Making it a medium-sized plant genome.

It had been thought that most potato cultivars derived from a single origin in southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia.

DNA analysis,

However,

Shows that more than 99% of all current varieties of potatoes are direct descendants of a subspecies that once grew in the lowlands of south-central Chile.

Most modern potatoes grow in North America,

Arrived through European settlement,

And not independently from the South American sources.

At least one wild potato species occurs in North America.

It is used in breeding for resistance to a nematode species that attacks cultivated potatoes.

A secondary center of genetic variability of the potato is Mexico,

Where important wild species that have been used extensively in modern breeding are found,

Used as a source of resistance to the devastating late-blight disease.

Another relative native to this region has been used to genetically engineer the potato to resist potato blight.

Little of the diversity found in Solanum ancestral and wild relatives is found outside the original South American range.

This makes these South American species highly valuable in breeding.

The importance of the potato in humanity is recognized in the United Nations' International Day of Potato,

To be celebrated on the 30th of May each year,

Starting in 2024.

Potatoes,

Both S.

Tuberosum and most of its wild relatives,

Are self-incompatible.

They bear no useful fruit when self-pollinated.

This trait is problematic for crop breeding,

As all sexually produced plants must be hybrids.

The gene responsible for self-incompatibility,

As well as mutations to disable it,

Are now known.

Self-compatibility has successfully been introduced both to diploid potatoes,

Including a special line of S.

Tuberosum by CRISPR-Cas9.

Plants having a Sli gene produce pollen which is compatible to its own parent and plant with similar S genes.

This gene was cloned by Vangeningen University and Solynta in 2021,

Which would allow for faster and more focused breeding.

Diploid hybrid potato breeding is a recent area of potato genetics,

Supported by the finding that simultaneous homozygosity and fixation of donor alleles is possible.

There are some 5,

000 potato varieties worldwide,

3,

000 of them in the Andes alone,

Mainly in Peru,

Bolivia,

Ecuador,

Chile,

And Colombia.

Over 100 cultivars might be found in a single valley,

And a dozen or more might be maintained by a single agricultural household.

The European Cultivated Potato Database is an online collaborative database of potato variety descriptions,

Updated and maintained by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency,

Within the framework of the European Cooperative Programme for Crop Genetic Resources Networks,

Which is run by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

Around 80 varieties are commercially available in the US.

For culinary purposes,

Varieties are often differentiated by their waxiness.

Floury or mealy baking potatoes have more starch than waxy boiling potatoes.

The distinction may also arise from variation in the comparative ratio of two different potato starch compounds,

Amylose and amylopectin.

Amylose,

A long-chain molecule,

Diffuses from the starch granule when cooked in water,

And lends itself to dishes where the potato is mashed.

Varieties that contain a slightly higher amylopectin content,

Which is a highly branched molecule,

Help the potato retain its shape after being boiled in water.

Potatoes that are good for making potato chips or potato crisps are sometimes called chip-ian potatoes,

Which means they meet the basic requirements of similar varietal characteristics,

Being firm,

Fairly clean,

And fairly well-shaped.

Immature potatoes may be sold fresh from the field as a creamer or new potatoes,

And are particularly valued for their taste.

They are typically small in size and tender,

With a loose skin and flesh containing a lower level of starch than other potatoes.

In the United States,

They're generally either a Yukon gold potato or a red potato,

Called gold creamers or red creamers,

Respectively.

In the UK,

The Jersey Royal is a famous type of new potato.

Dozens of potato cultivars have been selectively bred specifically for their skin or flesh color,

Including gold,

Red,

And blue varieties.

These contain varying amounts of phytochemicals,

Including carotenoids for gold-yellow,

Or polyphenols for red or blue cultivars.

Carotenoid compounds include provitamin A,

Alpha-carotene,

And beta-carotene,

Which are converted to the essential nutrient vitamin A during digestion.

Anthocyanins,

Mainly responsible for red or blue pigmentation in potato cultivars,

Do not have nutritional significance,

But are used for visual variety and consumer appeal.

In 2010,

Potatoes were bioengineered specifically for these pigmentation traits.

Potatoes are generally grown from seed potatoes,

Tubers specifically grown to be free from disease and to provide consistent and healthy plants.

To be disease-free,

The areas where seed potatoes are grown are selected with care.

In the U.

S.

,

This restricts production of seed potatoes to only 15 states out of all 50 states where potatoes are grown.

These locations are selected for their cold,

Hard winters that kill pests and summers with long sunshine hours for optimum growth.

In the U.

K.

,

Most seed potatoes originate in Scotland and areas where westerly winds reduce aphid attacks.

And the spread of potato virus pathogens.

Potato growth can be divided into five phases.

During the first phase,

Sprouts emerge from the seed potatoes and root growth begins.

During the second,

Photosynthesis begins as the plant develops leaves and branches above ground and stolons develop from lower leaf axils on the below-ground stem.

In the third phase,

The tips of the stolons swell,

Forming new tubers and the shoots continue to grow with flowers typically developing soon after.

Tuber bulking occurs during the fourth phase when the plant begins investing the majority of its resources in its newly formed tubers.

At this phase,

Several factors are critical to a good yield.

Optimal soil moisture and temperature.

Soil nutrient availability and balance.

And resistance to pest attacks.

The fifth phase is the maturation of the tubers.

The leaves and stems senesce and the tuber skins harden.

New tubers may start growing at the surface of the soil.

Since exposure to light leads to an undesirable greening of the skins and the development of solanine as a protection from the sun's rays,

Growers cover surface tubers.

Commercial growers cover them by piling additional soil around the base of the plant as it grows,

Called hilling up,

Or in British English,

Earthing up.

An alternative method used by home gardeners and smaller scale growers involves covering the growing area with mulches such as straw or plastic sheets.

At farm scale,

Potatoes require a well-drained neutral or mildly acidic soil,

PH 6 or 7,

Such as a sandy loam.

The soil is prepared using deep tillage,

For example,

With a chisel plow or ripper.

In areas where irrigation is needed,

The field is leveled using a land plane,

So the water can be supplied evenly.

Manure can be added after initial irrigation.

The soil is then broken up with a disc harrow.

The potatoes are planted using a potato planter machine in rows 80 cm apart.

At garden scale,

Potatoes are planted in trenches or individual holes some 15 cm deep in soil,

Preferably with additional organic matter such as garden compost or manure.

Alternatively,

They can be planted in containers or bags filled with a free-draining compost.

Potatoes are sensitive to heavy frosts,

Which damage them in the ground or when stored.

Insects that commonly transmit potato diseases or damage the plants include the Colorado potato beetle,

The potato tuber moth,

The green peach aphid,

The potato aphid,

Tuta absoluta,

Beef leafhoppers,

Thrips,

And mites.

The Colorado potato beetle is considered the most important insect defoliator of potatoes,

Devastating entire crops.

The potato cyst nematode is a microscopic worm that feeds on the roots,

Thus causing the potato plants to wilt.

Since its eggs can survive in the soil for several years,

Crop rotation is recommended.

On a small scale,

Potatoes can be harvested using a hoe or spade,

Or simply by hand.

Commercial harvesting is done with large potato harvesters,

Which scoop up the plant and surrounding earth.

This is transported up an apron chain consisting of steel links several feet wide,

Which separates some of the earth.

The chain deposits into an area where further separation occurs.

The most complex designs use vine choppers and shakers,

Along with a blower system to separate the potatoes from the plant.

The result is then usually run past workers who continue to sort out plant material,

Stones,

And rotten potatoes before the potatoes are continuously delivered to a wagon or truck.

Further inspection and separation occurs when the potatoes are unloaded from the field vehicles and put into storage.

Potatoes are usually cured after harvest to improve skin set.

Skin set is a process by which the skin of the potato becomes resistant to skinning damage.

Potato tubers may be susceptible to skinning at harvest and suffer skinning damage during harvest and handling operations.

Curing allows the skin to fully set and any wounds to heal.

Wound healing prevents infection and water loss from the tubers during storage.

Curing is normally done at relatively warm temperatures,

50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit,

With high humidity and good gas exchange if at all possible.

Storage facilities need to be carefully designed to keep the potatoes alive and slow the natural process of sprouting,

Which involves the breakdown of starch.

It is crucial that the storage area be dark,

Ventilated well,

And for long-term storage,

Maintain a temperature near 39 degrees Fahrenheit.

For short-term storage,

Temperatures of around 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit are preferred.

Temperatures below 39 degrees Fahrenheit convert the starch and potatoes into sugar,

Which alters their taste and cooking qualities.

And leads to higher acrylamide levels in the cooked product,

Especially in deep-fried dishes.

The discovery of acrylamides in starchy foods in 2002 has caused concern,

But it is not likely that the acrylamides in food,

Even if it is somewhat burnt,

Causes cancer in humans.

Chemicals are used to suppress sprouting of tubers during storage.

Chlorprofam is the main chemical used,

But it has been banned in the EU over toxicity concerns.

Alternatives include ethylene,

Spearmint,

And orange oils,

And one for dimethyl naphthalene.

Under optimum conditions in commercial warehouses,

Potatoes can be stored for up to 10 to 12 months.

The commercial storage and retrieval of potatoes involves several phases.

First,

Drying surface moisture,

Wound healing at 85% to 95% relative humidity and temperatures below 77 degrees Fahrenheit,

A staged cooling phase,

A holding phase,

And a reconditioning phase,

During which the tubers are slowly warmed.

Mechanical ventilation is used at various points during the process to prevent condensation and the accumulation of carbon dioxide.

In 2023,

World production of potatoes was 383 million tons,

Led by China with 25% of the total,

And India as a major secondary producer.

The world dedicated 18.

6 million hectares to potato cultivation in 2010.

The world average yield was 17.

4 tons per hectare.

The United States was the most productive country,

With a nationwide average yield of 44.

3 tons per hectare.

New Zealand farmers have demonstrated some of the best commercial yields in the world.

Ranging between 60 and 80 tons per hectare,

Some reporting yields of 88 tons of potatoes per hectare.

There is a big gap among various countries between high and low yields,

Even with the same variety of potato.

Average potato yields in developed economies ranges between 38 and 44 metric tons per hectare.

China and India counted for over a third of the world's production in 2010,

And had yields of 14.

7 and 19.

9 metric tons per hectare,

Respectively.

The yield gap between farms and developing economies and developed economies represents an opportunity loss of over 400 million metric tons of potato,

Or an amount greater than 2010 world potato production.

Potato crop yields are determined by factors such as the crop breed,

Seed age and quality,

Crop management practices,

And the plant environment.

Improvements in one or more of these yield determinants,

And a closure of the yield gap,

Could be a major boost to food supply and farmer incomes in the developing world.

The food energy yield of potatoes,

About 95 gigajoules per hectare,

Is higher than that of maize,

Rice,

Wheat,

Or soybeans.

In a reference amount of 100 grams,

A boiled potato with skin supplies 87 calories,

And is 77% water,

20% carbohydrates,

Including 2% dietary fiber in the skin and flesh,

2% protein,

And contains negligible fat.

The protein content is comparable to other starchy vegetable staples,

As well as grains.

Boiled potatoes are a moderate source of vitamin C and the B vitamins,

Vitamin B6,

And pentothenic acid.

Other than a moderate source of potassium,

Boiled potatoes do not supply significant amounts of dietary minerals.

The potato is rarely eaten raw because raw potato starch is poorly digested by humans.

Depending on the cultivar and preparation method,

Potatoes can have a high glycemic index,

And so are often excluded from the diets of individuals trying to follow a low GI diet.

There is a lack of evidence on the effect of potato consumption on obesity and diabetes.

In the UK,

Potatoes are not considered by the National Health Service as counting or contributing towards the recommended daily 5 portions of fruit and vegetables,

The 5-a-day program.

Potato dishes vary around the world.

Peruvian cuisine naturally contains the potato as a primary ingredient in many dishes,

As around 3,

000 varieties of the tuber are grown there.

Chuño is a freeze-dried potato product traditionally made by Quechua and Aymara communities of Peru and Bolivia.

In the UK,

Potatoes form part of the dish fish and chips.

Roast potatoes are commonly served as part of a Sunday roast dinner,

And mashed potatoes form a major component of several other traditional dishes,

Such as shepherd's pie,

Bubble and squeak,

And bangers and mash.

New potatoes may be cooked with mint and are often served with butter.

In Germany,

Northern Europe,

Finland,

Latvia,

And especially Scandinavian countries,

Eastern Europe,

Russia,

Belarus,

And Ukraine,

And Poland,

Newly harvested early ripening varieties are considered a special delicacy.

Boiled whole and served unpeeled with dill,

These new potatoes are traditionally consumed with Baltic herring.

Puddings made from grated potatoes,

Kugel,

Kugelis,

And potato babka are popular items of Ashkenazi,

Lithuanian,

And Belarusian cuisine.

Tsepelinai,

The national dish of Lithuania,

Are dumplings made from boiled grated potatoes,

Usually stuffed with minced meat.

In Italy,

In the Friuli region,

Potatoes are served to make a type of pasta called gnocchi.

Potato is used in Northern China,

Where rice is not easily grown,

A popular dish being qinjiao duodouzi,

Made with green pepper,

Vinegar,

And thin slices of potato.

In the winter,

Roadside sellers in Northern China sell roasted potatoes.

Potatoes are sometimes used to brew alcoholic spirits.

They are used as fodder for livestock.

They may be made into silage,

Which can be stored for some months before use.

Potato starch is used in the food industry as a thickener and binder for soups and sauces.

In the textile industry as an adhesive,

And in the paper industry for the manufacturing of papers and boards.

Potatoes are commonly used in plant research.

The consistent parenchyma tissue,

The clonal nature of the plant,

And the low metabolic activity make it an ideal model tissue for experiments on wound response studies and electron transport.

In Inca mythology,

A daughter of the Earth Mother,

Pachamama,

Ashomama,

Is the goddess of potatoes.

She ensured the fertility of the soil and the growth of the tubers.

According to Iroquois mythology,

The first potatoes grew out of Earth Woman's feet,

After she died giving birth to her twin sons,

Sapling and Flint.

The potato has been an essential crop in the Andes since the pre-Columbian era.

The Moche culture from northern Peru made ceramics from the earth,

Water,

And fire.

This pottery was a sacred substance,

Formed in significant shapes and used to represent important themes.

Potatoes are represented anthropomorphically as well as naturally.

During the late 19th century,

Numerous images of potato harvesting appeared in European art,

Including the works of Willem Witsen and Anton Malve.

Van Gogh's 1885 painting,

The Potato Eaters,

Portrays a family eating potatoes.

Van Gogh said he wanted to depict peasants as they really were.

He deliberately chose coarse and ugly models,

Thinking that they would be natural and unspoiled in his finished work.

Jean-François Millet's The Potato Harvest depicts peasants working in the plains between Barbizon and Cheyilly.

It presents a theme representative of the peasants' struggle for survival.

Millet's technique for this work incorporated paste-like pigments,

Thickly applied over a coarsely textured canvas.

Reviews

Love spuds!! But rather boring to listen to which is perfect for sleeping! 😁😻
Thank you, Benjamin!

First it made me crave a potato dish 🥔 , then I fell asleep 😴

More information than I could imagine about the humble potato 🥔 Quite a saga! Thanks Ben!