Spain captured the Inca Emperor in 1532 and paid a ransom in gold and silver. Thirty years later they took another much more precious Inca treasure back to the Old World.
Although Europeans are the global potato eating champs prior to the 1500s, they didn’t even know it existed. Potatoes began their journey in the Andean Highlands of South America, where for thousands of years people ate lifts of hundreds of varieties in all shapes, sizes and colors.
Potato fields yield so much food that it’s worth trampling peeling, freezing and drying until you hold in your hands, a tumor, a dried non-toxic potato expiration date never.
The Incas used potatoes to create an empire, but the Spanish took them away and called them sweet potatoes. Today, potatoes are grown with sea tubers, but you can also throw seeds into the air and hope for the best.
The potato had a bad rap when it first came to the Old world, but you eat the tubers, not the fruit.
Europeans only really became friends with the potato because it was a peasant’s rate prevention safety net. Invading armies would leave peasants with only dust in their bolt, but potatoes could be left in the ground until the day they’d eat them.
The potato was first grown in the Indian Highlands of South America, but due to monocultures and the lack of diversity, it was vulnerable to pests and disease. A remedy against late blight was eventually found, but even today, scientists are fighting to keep potatoes free from legions of menacing pests.
