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Where do potatoes come from?

Nearly everyone loves potatoes. Where would mealtimes be without them?

Because of all the potatoes we eat on this island, you would think they came from here. They don’t!

Archaeologists have discovered potato remains in South America from 2,500 years ago.

If you think you love potatoes, you should see the pottery people made back then. They obviously adored potatoes. Some of the pots that were found had pictures of potato humans!

But not much has changed in the way we eat potatoes today from the way people back then ate them. They mashed, baked, boiled and stewed their potatoes, just like we do.

How do potatoes grow?

Potatoes don’t grow from a simple seed. They grow from a seed potato.

The seed potato has small sprouts on it and is ready to grow. When you forget about potatoes in the cupboard for a while, they might start sprouting like a seed potato.

Before planting, the farmer ploughs the land and pushes the soil into ridges. After that, the farmer removes any stones. This is done to stop the stones squashing the potatoes as they grow underground.

The farmer then plants the seed potatoes into the ridges and covers them with soil to protect them.

Like many other vegetables grown here, potatoes are sown in the spring so the warmer weather can help them grow.

After the potatoes are planted, they grow roots down into the soil. Then new shoots reach up through the soil towards sunlight, and soon there are green leaves above ground.

The shoots produce energy to help the roots grow bigger and eventually become potatoes.

Potatoes can only be grown in a field one year out of five years. This is because they take so many nutrients from the soil. Each year the farmer grows potatoes in a different field. Moving the potato crop around means the soil stays healthy for other crops.

How did the potato come to Ireland?

Even though potatoes had been eaten in other places for thousands of years, they didn’t appear in Europe until 1570. That’s over 450 years ago.

Soon after, a famous explorer called Sir Walter Raleigh brought potatoes to Ireland.

Potatoes were easier to grow for Irish farmers than other crops, such as wheat and oats. And, they soon discovered that the potato plant was really nutritious and gave you loads of energy for a full day's work.

In the 1800s nearly half of Ireland’s population - mostly poor families - depended on the potato for their daily food.

The potato was the perfect crop for Irish farmers to produce and for everyone to eat. Every year in Northern Ireland we spend more than £50 million on potatoes, so we need to grow a lot of them.

Crisps!

You might love potatoes best in the form of crisps!

There are lots of different varieties of potatoes grown in Ireland.

Some are suitable for making crisps, while others are used to make mash or chips.

Once the potatoes have been harvested, they are stored in big wooden crates and sold.

Some of them go to the crisp factory. Here they are washed, peeled, sliced, fried, flavoured and then popped into bags.

If all the crisps produced here in a year were lined up on the floor, they would stretch for 19,000 miles!

I’m sure you wouldn’t want to eat that many.

Would you?