Potato papa or Solanum tuberosum,what is the fame of the Potato except Potato famines and more...

  seminal trace...Potato Extract.10:1.Irish potato tubers,Solanum tuberosum L.Potatoes Extract...

   Basic Botanical Data of Potato:

 Potatoes
 Scientific name: Solanum tuberosum L.
 Latin: Solanum tuberosum
 Common Names:Potato, Irish potato,white potato, common potato,papa (Latin America)
 (Solanum tuberosum -- Family Solanaceae)
 Used Part: The tubercles. Edible tubers.
 Family: Solanaceae (nightshade family)
 Other Common Names: Aardappel, Grumbir, Irish Potato, Kartoffel, Papa, Patata, Patates, Pomme De Terre, Potato, T'U Yu, Zyaga-Imo

 

 Basic Botanical Data of Potato:
 What is a potato?
 Origin and Dissemination of Patato:
 Potato:the Archeology and History.
 Today's Potato
 Parts of Patato:Introduction
 Varieties of Potato:
 Food value of Patato:
 Constituents of Potato:
 Nutritional Value and Phytochemicals of Potato:
 Health benefits and concerns of Potato:
 Functions,Medicinal Uses of Potato:
 Dosage and Administration of Potato:
 Modern Researches of Potato:
 Research Update:Potato or Solanum tuberosum L.


   What is a potato?

 The potato belongs to the Solanaceae or nightshade family whose other members include tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and tomatillos. They are the swollen portion of the underground stem which is called a tuber and is designed to provide food for the green leafy portion of the plant. If allowed to flower and fruit, the potato plant will bear an inedible fruit resembling a tomato
 A tuber or underground stem with stored food (i.e. starch, and sugars)
 Potatoes exist as perennial plants when growing in the wild (come back year after year) and annuals when cultivated as we know them (need to be planted each year).
 Cultivated potatoes have 48 chromosomes. Tetraploid and wild potatoes have 24 chromosomes.
 It has weak stems; the branched trailing shoots bear underground stem tubers, almost oval in shape. The flesh is either white or yellow, the latter being the more favoured type.

 


   Origin and Dissemination of Patato:

 More than 6,000 years ago in the high Andes of South America, people first domesticated the potato. In the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors brought the potato from Peru to Europe, but it wasn¡¯t until two centuries later that potatoes were introduced into the European diet. Today, potato is the fourth most important crop in developing countries after rice, wheat, and maize. More than 3 billion people consume potatoes.

 It is a native of the Andes where it remained confined until the Spaniards found it and introduced it into Europe in about 1570. Ireland was the first country to cultivate potatoes to prevent famine among the poorest of the inhabitants. They were grown there probably during the first decade of the 17th century. This humble crop changed the course of human history, dispersing many Irishmen into the New World during the famous potato blight in 1836.


 The potato was first cultivated in South America between three and seven thousand years ago, though scientists believe they may have grown wild in the region as long as 13,000 years ago. The genetic patterns of potato distribution indicate that the potato probably originated in the mountainous west-central region of the continent. According to Dr. Hector Flores, "the most probable place of origin of potatoes is located between the south of Peru and the northeast of Bolivia. The archaeological remains date from 400bc and have been found on the shores of Lake Titicaca.... There are many expressions of the extended use of the potato in the pre-Inca cultures from the Peruvian Andes, as you can see in the Nazca and Chimu pottery." The crop diffused from Peru to the rest of the Andes and beyond.

 Early Spanish chroniclers:who misused the Indian word batata (sweet potato) as the name for the potato,noted the importance of the tuber to the Incan Empire. The Incas had learned to preserve the potato for storage by dehydrating and mashing potatoes into a substance called chu?u. Chu?u could be stored in a room for up to 10 years, providing excellent insurance against possible crop failures. As well as using the food as a staple crop, the Incas thought potatoes made childbirth easier and used it to treat injuries.


 In the 16th century, the Spaniards introduced it to the rest of the world. The name "Potato" came from the Yematasi word "potah'toh" or ground-fog berry (the original Quechua word was "papa"). The Spanish adopted the Quechuan name . The Spanish also traded with the Athabascans and the Yematasi trade groups and combined the two words 'papa' and "potah'toh" to get a new word 'patata'. Many other European languages took forms of this Spanish name. In the Americas, the word "papa" is more common in the Spanish language than "patata".

 The Spanish conquistadors first encountered the potato when they arrived in Peru in 1532 in search of gold, and noted Inca miners eating chu u. At the time the Spaniards failed to realize that the potato represented a far more important treasure than either silver or gold, but they did gradually begin to use potatoes as basic rations aboard their ships. After the arrival of the potato in Spain in 1570, a few Spanish farmers began to cultivate them on a small scale, mostly as food for livestock.

 From Spain, potatoes slowly spread to Italy and other European countries during the late 1500s. By 1600, the potato had entered Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Holland, France, Switzerland, England, Germany, Portugal and Ireland. But it did not receive a warm welcome.

 Throughout Europe, potatoes were regarded with suspicion, distaste and fear. Generally considered to be unfit for human consumption, they were used only as animal fodder and sustenance for the starving. In northern Europe, potatoes were primarily grown in botanical gardens as an exotic novelty. Even peasants refused to eat from a plant that produced ugly, misshapen tubers and that had come from a heathen civilization. Some felt that the potato plant's resemblance to plants in the nightshade family hinted that it was the creation of witches or devils.

 


   Potato:the Archeology and History.

  Potato and ancient Origin

 Originated in the highlands of South America where it has been consumed for more than 8,000 years.
 The Spanish brought potatoes back to plant in Europe in the late 16th century mostly as a botanical curiosity.
 By the 19th century it had spread throughout Europe because the potato provided cheap and abundant food for the workers of the industrial revolution.


 Before 6000 BCE, the first wild potatoes were being collected from high plateaus that stretched between Cusco and Lake Titicaca in South America. Of the eight different species of potato in existence, it is known that the Andean farmers recognized as many as 5,000 different varieties. Some farmers today still grow up to forty-five different varieties in their tiny fields along the steep mountainsides. Typically for a staple food, there are more than 1,000 different names for the potato in the Quechua language alone.

 These first tubers were small, misshapen, and knobbly, of many colours, and so bitter that special techniques were employed to make them edible. The truly amazing thing is that they even bothered to try! Through selection and inbreeding, that inedible tuber is now a vital staple food and has become the fourth most important world food crop after wheat, maize, and rice. Some potatoes can be found growing as high as 13,000 feet and, obviously, very resistant to frost. Others are better adapted to warmer and drier climates.

 The shape and colour of the potato varies enormously from yellow, round and twisted, to purple, long and straight. However, 80% of all the potatoes grown in the US and Canada stem from just six varieties of only one species, Solanum tuberosum. Scientists at Peru's International Potato Center are working feverishly to save, from extinction, as many as they can of the small, genetically valuable, Andean potatoes. Many of their farmers are being pressured into planting higher-yield modern varieties and are not cultivating the older varieties much anymore. A major part of the work at the Potato Center is to help adapt the potato cultivation to the lower, humid zones of the tropics.


 The Potato is nearly related to the Nightshades, belonging to the same genus, Solanum. Its flowers are very similar in form, but larger and paler in colour than those of Solanum Dulcamara.

 The stalks, leaves and green berries possess the narcotic and poisonous properties of the Nightshades, but the tubers we eat (which are not the root, but mere enlargements of underground stems, shortened and thickened, in which starch is stored up for the future use of the plant), not being acted on by light, do not develop the poisonous properties contained by that part of the plant above ground. The influence of light on the tubers can be observed if in spring-time young green potatoes are exposed to daylight, when it will be found that they become poisonous and have a disagreeable taste.

 The Potato was introduced into Europe early in the sixteenth century, being brought to Spain from Peru, and was first brought into England in 1586 from North America, the colonists sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh bringing it back with them from Virginia.

 Gerard, in his Herbal published in 1597, gives a figure of the Potato, under the name of 'Potato of Virginia' - to distinguish it from the Sweet Potato. The Herbal contains a portrait of himself on the frontispiece holding in his hand a spray of the Potato plant with flowers and berries.

 Though Sir Walter Raleigh was the first to plant the Potato, on his estate at Youghall, near Cork, it is said that he knew so little about it that he tried to eat the berries, and on discovering their noxious character, ordered the plants to be rooted out. It is said that the gardener in doing so, first learnt the value of their wholesome tubers.


 From Ireland, the Potato was soon after carried into Lancashire, but for some time Potatoes were only grown as a delicacy for the epicure, not as food for the people. Both Gerard and Parkinson refer to them in this manner. The Puritans opposed their cultivation, because no mention of them could be found in the Bible, and it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that potatoes became common in this country as a vegetable. As late as 1716, Bradley, in his Historia Plantarum Succulentarum, speaks of them as 'inferior to skirrets and radishes.'

 The Potato is indigenous in various parts of South America, plants in a wild state having been found on the Peruvian coast, as well as on the sterile mountains of Central Chile and Buenos Aires. The Spaniards are believed to have first brought it to Europe, from Quito, in the early part of the sixteenth century. It afterwards found its way into Italy, and from thence it was carried to Mons, in Belgium, by one of the attendants of the Pope's legate. In 1598 it was sent from Mons to the celebrated botanist Clusius at Vienna, who states that in a short time it spread rapidly throughout Germany.

 In the time of James I, potatoes cost 2s. a pound, and are mentioned in 1619 among the articles provided for the royal household. In 1633, when their valuable properties had become more generally known, they were noticed by the Royal Society, and measures were taken to encourage their cultivation in case of famine; but it was not till nearly a century after this that they were grown to any extent in England. In 1725 they were introduced into Scotland and cultivated with much success, first in gardens, and afterwards (about 1760), when they had become plentiful, in the open fields.

 On the Continent, the adoption of the Potato as a vegetable met with considerable prejudice, and it did not become a general article of food for some time after it was in general use here. Gerard says: 'Bauhine saith that he heard that the use of these roots was forbidden in Burgundy for that they were persuaded the too frequent use of them caused the leprosie' - a belief without any foundation, for the disease is now confined to countries where the Potato is not grown, and its antiscorbutic properties have been proved.

 Linnaeus for some time objected to the use of the Potato on account of its connexion with the Deadly Nightshade and Bittersweet. Solanine, the poisonous active principle contained in the stalks, leaves and unripe fruit, is very powerful, and has not yet been fully investigated. It is also present in the peel of the tuber, but is dissipated and rendered inert when the whole potato is boiled and steamed, and is decomposed by baking.

 


  Irish Potato History

 By 1650 potatoes were the staple food of Ireland, and they began to replace wheat as the major crop elsewhere in Europe, being used to feed both people and animals. The first mention of potatoes appearing in North America comes from Irish settlers in Londonderry, New Hampshire during 1719.

 Interestingly Ireland was one of the first European countries to really adopt the potato and it became an established crop by the early 17th century. Whereas it took another 100 years before it became established in Britain.


 The potato was such an important food to the Irish that it is permanently associated with them today in the popular imagination, due to a single devastating event¡ªthe Irish potato famine. In the 1840s there was a major outbreak of potato blight, which swept through Europe, wiping out the potato crop in many countries. The Irish economy was so dependent on a single variety of potatoes as a staple at this time that the event led to terrible disease, death, famine, and subsequently emigration by many of the survivors to areas where there was more food. The blight marks an important, though tragic, point in Irish history.

 The rapidly expanding agrarian population became increasingly dependent on the potato. There was a very severe famine in 1740-41 and 14 full or partial potato famines between 1816 and 1842, mostly weather related.

 The great famine of 1845 - 1847 was due to potato blight and devastated the country. The population fell from 8.2m in 1840 to 4.4m in 1911.

 


  Potato Population Boom:

 When the European diet expanded to include potatoes, not only were farmers able to produce much more food, they also gained protection against the catastrophe of a grain crop failure and periodic population checks caused by famine. Highly nutritious potatoes also helped mitigate the effects of such diseases as scurvy, tuberculosis, measles and dysentery. The higher birth rates and lower mortality rates potatoes encouraged led to a tremendous population explosion wherever the potato traveled, particularly in Europe, the US and the British Empire.

 Historians debate whether the potato was primarily a cause or an effect of the huge population boom in industrial-era England and Wales. Prior to 1800, the English diet had consisted primarily of meat, supplemented by bread, butter and cheese. Few vegetables were consumed, most vegetables being regarded as nutritionally worthless and potentially harmful. This view began to change gradually in the late 1700s. At the same time as the populations of London, Liverpool and Manchester were rapidly increasing, the potato was enjoying unprecedented popularity among farmers and urban workers. The Industrial Revolution was drawing an ever increasing percentage of the populace into crowded cities, where only the richest could afford homes with ovens or coal storage rooms, and people were working 12-16 hour days which left them with little time or energy to prepare food. High yielding, easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to England's food problems. Not insignificantly, the English were also rapidly acquiring a taste for potatoes, as is evidenced by the tuber's increasing popularity in recipe books from the time. Hot potato vendors and merchants selling fish and chips wrapped in paper horns became ubiquitous features of city life. Between 1801 and 1851, England and Wales experienced an unprecedented population explosion, their combined population doubling to almost 18 million.


 Before the widespread adoption of the potato, France managed to produce just enough grain to feed itself each year, provided nothing went wrong, but something usually did. The precariousness of the food supply discouraged French farmers from experimenting with new crops or new farming techniques, as they couldn't afford any failures. On top of hundreds of local famines, there were at least 40 outbreaks of serious, nationwide famine between 1500 and 1800. The benefits of the potato, which yielded more food per acre than wheat and allowed farmers to cultivate a greater variety of crops for greater insurance against crop failure, were obvious wherever it was adopted. The potato insinuated itself into the French diet in the form of soups, boiled potatoes and pommes-frites. The fairly sudden shift towards potato cultivation in the early years of the French Revolution allowed a nation that had traditionally hovered on the brink of starvation in times of stability and peace to expand its population during a decades-long period of constant political upheaval and warfare. The uncertainly of food supply during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, combined with the tendency of above-ground crops to be destroyed by soldiers, encouraged France's allies and enemies to embrace the tuber as well; by the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the potato had become a staple food in the diets of most Europeans.

 The most dramatic example of the potato's potential to alter population patterns occurred in Ireland, where the potato had become a staple by 1800. The Irish population doubled to eight million between 1780 and 1841,this, without any significant expansion of industry or reform of agricultural techniques beyond the widespread cultivation of the potato. Though Irish landholding practices were primitive in comparison with those of England, the potato's high yields allowed even the poorest farmers to produce more healthy food than they needed with scarcely any investment or hard labor. Even children could easily plant, harvest and cook potatoes, which of course required no threshing, curing or grinding. The abundance provided by potatoes greatly decreased infant mortality and encouraged early marriage. Accounts of Irish society recorded by contemporary visitors paint the picture of a people as remarkable for their health as for their lack of sophistication at the dinner table, where potatoes typically supplied appetizer, dinner and dessert.
 


  The Irish Potato Famine

 Whereas most of their neighbors regarded the potato with suspicion and had to be persuaded to use it by the upper classes, the Irish peasantry embraced the tuber more passionately than anyone since the Incas. The potato was well suited to the Irish the soil and climate, and its high yield suited the most important concern of most Irish farmers: to feed their families.
 While the potato was rapidly becoming an important food across Europe, in Ireland it was frequently the only food. Many Irish survived on milk and potatoes alone,the two together provide all essential nutrients,while others subsisted on potatoes and water. By the early 1840s, almost one-half of the Irish population had become entirely dependent upon the potato, specifically on just one or two high-yielding varieties.

 The first Europeans encountered the potato in 1537 in what is now Colombia. They belonged to the Spanish forces of Jiminez De Quesada, who entered a village after the inhabitants had fled and found maize, beans, and "truffles", which were described as having a good flavor and a delicacy of the Indians. These "truffles" were potatoes and were promptly introduced into Spain and soon after into Italy, where they did not become a success. This was attributed to their watery, bitter nature; and they could not be successfully grown in the warmer climates. They also had to compete with other newly, more flavourful, tubers of the sweet potato and artichoke.

 In 1770, Captain Cook introduced it into Australasia, where it became common fare by the middle of the next century. It is thought that the Spanish introduced the potato to Europe in the 16th century although Sir John Hawkins is reputed to have brought them to England in 1563. Extensive cultivation did not begin until Sir Francis Drake brought more back in 1586 after battling the Spaniards in the Caribbean. Sir Walter Raleigh is thought to have introduced them into Ireland, and later presented some to Elizabeth I. Her cook is said to have discarded the tubers and cooked the leaves, which did not help with its popularity. Except for Ireland, which remains the largest consumer, the potato did not become popular in Britain. In the north of Ireland and Scotland, Protestants would not plant it because it was not mentioned in the Bible; but Catholics dispelled this notion by sprinkling their seed potatoes with holy water and planting them on Good Friday.


 Elsewhere in Europe, royal or governmental edicts promoted the cause of the potato. In Sweden, there was such an edict in 1764. In Prussia, Frederick the Great ordered cultivation on a large scale in Silesia and Pomerania. In 1784, Benjamin Thompson, better known as Count Rumford, the famous American scientist, inventor, soldier, and adventurer, entered the service of the Royal Bavarian government to reorganize the workhouse system. The inmates of these "Houses of Industry" were fed as economically as possible on bread and thin gruel. Rumford contrived to make the gruel incredibly cheap by substituting potatoes for the barley being used. Yet, despite the gnawing hunger of the inmates, Rumford had to conceal using potatoes instead of barley by boiling them behind a screen so that the inmates would not reject the gruel.

 In England and Germany, potatoes were considered more of a curiosity; while in France, they were believed to cause leprosy and fever. However, Antoine Parmentier, a French scientist and army officer during the Seven Years War, wrote a thesis in 1773 extolling the virtues of the potato, particularly as a famine food. He had eaten the potato as a prisoner of war in Prussia and thought that, if the French court could be persuaded to esteem the potato, all of France would do the same. Amazingly, he not only persuaded the French King, Louis XVI, to accept this tuber, but the queen Marie Antoinette as well, who wore the flowers to decorate her dresses. The potato then became quite fashionable and part of the French cuisine ,and was the beginning for the potato soup now known as Potage Parmentier. By the early 19th century, the potato became a staple in France, with no recordings of any new leprosy or fevers as a result!

 Parmentier was also instrumental in creating "French Fries", which were served at a dinner honouring Benjamin Franklin who, duly unimpressed, left it to Thomas Jefferson to introduce them to the White House. America has never been the same since. Additionally, Parmentier established large potato plantations near Paris in order to make them more popular with the people. Evidentally, this worked because the fields were surrounded by ditches and patrolled by guards, causing the common folk to wonder what was so valuable. At night, they came out and began to steal the tubers to plant in their own gardens. Even the French Revolution did not curb the popularity of the potato; and, in 1793, the Royal Tuileries Gardens were turned into fields of potatoes. However, like his prized potato, Parmentier went underground and lived on for many more years.

 When and how the potato was introduced into Ireland is not certain, but many agree that the most plausible story is that it was done by Sir Walter Raleigh. He owned estates in County Cork and was mayor of the town of Youghal in 1588 and 1589, which was about the time that the potato was sure to have been established in that country. So successful did it become, that it virtually replaced other cereal and dairy staples by the 18th century. By the time of the famine in 1845, over one-third of the population relied almost exclusively on the potato for their sustenance. In pre-famine Ireland, the average daily consumption of potatoes was between seven and fourteen pounds and that a man, his wife, and four children would easily consume 250 pounds of the vegetable every week.

 These extraordinary consumption rates were paralleled by an explosive increase in population between 1780 and 1845, during which time the population almost doubled. This, coupled with Ireland's climate and plentiful rain, produced large crops of potatoes which were propogated from small tubers. These were passed from one household to another, causing the entire national crop to be from just a few original plants. This continual inbreeding made the crops highly susceptible to blight and, ultimately, caused the deaths of more than 1.5 million people with another million emigrating to North America. This tragedy gave the world one of the clearest reasons for the necessity of maintaining a diversity of crops and genes. Yet, food producers have learned little from this event and still maintain huge crops of one variety of food which, once again, will ultimately claim millions of lives.

 

   Today's Potato:

 Is the 4th most important food crop in the world.
 Annual world production is approaching 300 million metric tonnes.
 More than one third of world production now comes from developing countries, whereas in the early 1960's this represented a mere 11%.
 


   Parts of Patato:Introduction

 eyebrow - the eyebrow is a leaf scar which always faces the apical end of the potato. Eyebrows are highly concentrated at the apical end.
 eye - the eyes on a potato are the growing points for new plants.
 stem (basal) end - the stem end is the attachment point between the tuber and the plant. The stem can not produce new plants.
 lenticle - lenticles are tiny openings to allow moisture into the tuber.
 flower - the potato has a perfect flower which contains both male and female flower parts. The flower has 5 petals.
 flower colour - flowers can be white, purple, lilac, or violet depending on the variety of potato.
 true seed - if fertilization is successful, a small green fruit ball is produced containing 50 -200 seeds per ball.

 leaves - the potato has compound leaves.
 root system - cultivated potatoes produce a fibrous root system. True seed potatoes produce a tap root system.
 stems - stems originate from the eyes on the potato's surface.
 stolons (underground stems)- stolons originate from eyes when the potato is underground. The tuber forms at the tip of the growing stolon.

 

   Varieties of Potato:

 Some of the most popular types of the many varieties of potatoes are described below.

  Russet Potato This is the most popular potato in the United States. It is also known as the Idaho or baking potato. Most are grown in the Northwest, and they are available year-round. These potatoes are high in starch and are characterized by netted brown skin and white flesh. Russets are light and fluffy when cooked, making them ideal for baking and mashing. They are good for frying and roasting, too.

  Round white Potato Round whites are grown and used most often in the eastern United States. They are available year-round. Round whites are medium in starch level and have smooth, light tan skin with white flesh. These potatoes are creamy in texture and hold their shape well after cooking. Regarded as an all-purpose potato, round whites are very versatile and work well in just about every potato preparation.

  Long white, or white rose Potato These are grown primarily in California and are most readily available spring through summer. Long whites are oval-shaped, medium in starch level, and have thin, light tan skin. They have a firm, creamy, almost waxy texture when cooked, and hold their shape well. These all-purpose potatoes are very versatile, and work well in just about every potato preparation.


  Round red Potato These potatoes are available mostly in late summer and early fall. They are easy to recognize with their red skin and white flesh. Red potatoes have a firm, smooth, and moist texture, making them well suited for salads, roasting, boiling and steaming. They are often referred to as "new potatoes"; however, technically, "new" refers to any variety of potato that is harvested when its skin is reddish, before reaching maturity.

  Yellow flesh Potato These potatoes are very popular in Europe and increasingly popular in the United States, although they are still not grown in large quantities. Yukon gold is a variety of yellow-flesh potato available in late summer and early fall. These potatoes have a dense, creamy texture. With their golden color, you can be fooled into thinking that they are already buttered. They are a good choice for mashed potatoes.

  Blue and purple Potato These potatoes originated in South America and are not widely cultivated in the United States. Blue and purple potatoes are most commonly available in the fall. In the United States, they are often seen on the snack shelves of natural foods and grocery stores as chips. These relatively uncommon potatoes have a subtle nutty flavor and flesh that ranges in hue from dark blue or lavender to white. Microwaving preserves the color the best, but steaming and baking also work well.

 Potatoes are sold fresh, dehydrated, canned, frozen (mostly as French fries or hash browns), and, of course, there¡¯s the familiar potato chip. Potato flour, also known as potato starch, is also available, and can be used as a binder in meat or vegetable patties.

 Dehydrated potato flakes and granules are used most often to make mashed potatoes. Some products require the addition of water, milk, and butter; others only require the addition of water. Dehydrated shredded, sliced, and diced potatoes are also available. These can be found in packaged convenience potato products, such as potatoes au gratin mixes.

 


   Food value of Patato:

 Potatoes have a high carbohydrate content and include protein, minerals (particularly potassium, calcium) and vitamins, including vitamin C. More vitamin C is found in freshly harvested potatoes than potatoes that have been stored.

 Potatoes also contain glycoalkaloids, toxic compounds, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. These are partly destroyed by cooking at high temperatures. Glycoalkaloid concentrations are highest just underneath the skin of the tuber and increase with age and exposure to light. Glycolakloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps and in severe cases coma and death. Light exposure also causes greening, thus giving a visual clue as to areas of the tuber that may be toxic, however, this is not a definitive guide as greening and glycoalkaloid accumulation can occur independently of each other. Some varieties of potato contain greater glycolalkaloid concentrations than others; breeders developing new varieties test for this, and sometimes have to discard an otherwise promising cultivar.

 A benefit of new and fingerling potatoes is that they contain less solanine, so that the nutrients under the skin need not be lost. Such potatoes are an excellent source of nutrition. Peeled, long-stored potatoes fried by fast-food establishments have less nutritional value although they still have potassium and vitamin C.

 Potatoes can be prepared for eating in numerous ways, either with their skin on or peeled, whole or cut into pieces, and with seasonings or without. All that is required is that they be cooked to break down the starch and make them edible. Potatoes are generally eaten hot, but several basic potato recipes involve cooking the potatoes and then eating them cold - potato salad and potato chips. One of the commonest presentation methods is 'mashed potatoes'. These are peeled, boiled then mashed and mixed with butter, cream, or other seasonings before serving. Potatoes can also be baked whole; cut into cubes and roasted; grated and formed into dumplings or potato pancakes; and cut into long, thin pieces and fried or baked (French fries, called "chips" in the UK).

 Potatoes also provide starch, flour, alcohol (when fermented), dextrin, and livestock fodder.

 


   Constituents of Potato:

 The tuber is composed mainly of starch, which affords animal heat and promotes fatness, but the proportion of muscle-forming food is very small - it is said that 10 1/2 lb. of the tubers are only equal in value to 1 lb. of meat. The raw juice of the Potato contains no alkaloid, the chief ingredient being potash salts, which are present in large quantity. The tuber also contains a certain amount of citric acid - which, like Potash, is antiscorbutic - and phosphoric acid, yielding phosphorus in a quantity less only than that afforded by the apple and by wheat.

 It is of paramount importance that the valuable potash salts should be retained by the Potato during cooking. If peeled and then boiled, the tubers lose as much as 33 per cent of potash and 23 per cent of phosphoric acid, and should, therefore, invariably be boiled or steamed with their coats on. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. Peeled potatoes have lost half their food-value in the water in which they have been boiled.

 The Potato is not only important as a valuable article of diet, but has many other uses, both medicinal and economic.

 To carry a raw potato in the pocket was an old-fashioned remedy against rheumatism that modern research has proved to have a scientific basis. Ladies in former times had special bags or pockets made in their dresses in which to carry one or more small raw potatoes for the purpose of avoiding rheumatism if predisposed thereto. Successful experiments in the treatment of rheumatism and gout have in the last few years been made with preparations of raw potato juice. In cases of gout, rheumatism and lumbago the acute pain is much relieved by fomentations of the prepared juice followed by an application of liniment and ointment. Sprains and bruises have also been successfully treated by the Potato-juice preparations, and in cases of synovitis rapid absorption of the fluid has resulted. Although it is not claimed that the treatment in acute gout will cure the constitutional symptoms, local treatment by its means relieves the pain more quickly than other treatment.

 Potato starch is much used for determining the diastatic value of malt extract.

 Hot potato water has in years past been a popular remedy for some forms of rheumatism, fomentations to swollen and painful parts, as hot as can be borne, being applied from water in which 1 lb. of unpeeled potatoes, divided into quarters, has been boiled in 2 pints slowly boiled down to 1 pint Another potato remedy for rheumatism was made by cutting up the tubers, infusing them together with the fresh stalks and unripe berries for some hours in cold water, and applying in the form of a cold compress. The potatoes should not be peeled.


 Uncooked potatoes, peeled and pounded in a mortar, and applied cold, have been found to make a very soothing plaster to parts that have been scalded or burnt.
 The mealy flour of baked potato, mixed with sweet oil, is a very healing application for frost-bites. In Derbyshire, hot boiled potatoes are used for corns.
 Boiled with weak sulphuric acid, potato starch is changed into glucose, or grape sugar, which by fermentation yields alcohol this spirit being often sold under the name of British Brandy.

 A volatile oil - chemically termed Amylic alcohol, in Germany known as Fusel?l - is distilled by fermentation from potato spirit.
 Although young potatoes contain no citric acid, the mature tubers yield enough even for commercial purposes, and ripe potato juice is an excellent cleaner of silks, cottons and woollens.
 A fine flour is prepared from the Potato, and more used on the Continent than in this country for cake-making.
 


   Nutritional Value and Phytochemicals of Potato:

 Active Principles Abundant starch: amilopectina (more of 80%), beta-amilosa, tropea, mineral salts, oligoelementos, tannins. Alkaloids: heteridos of the solanidina (plans), that appears when enverdece by solar irradiation or when germinating.

 Man knew nutritional value of potato (solanum tuberosum) from the time of Inca civilisation. For the peasant the introduction of the potato was a great blessing since it provided a cheap alternative crop to cereals. In our time this is one of the foodstuff liked by all. Potato is popular among all age groups, sexes, races and economic classes. Potato is also known as alu (Hindi, Oriya and Punjabi), gal alu (Bengal), alu gaddalu (Telungu) and urula kizangu (Malayalam and Tamil). Potato form major part in so called Junk foods.

 Water content of potatoes is about 74 to 75 percent and it gives 97 kcal per 100 gms. Potatoes are good sources of carbohydrate (22.6 gms / 100 gm ) and only 1.6gms of protein for 100 gms. Since potatoes have high carbohydrate content, people on weight reducing diet and diabetes should avoid or limit the intake. The ability of the food item to rise the blood sugar is measured in terms of glycemic index. The glycemic index of new or boiled potato is 81. The fat content is less in potato.

 Content of minerals and water soluble B group vitamins in potatoes is small but significant. The vitamin C content of freshly dug potato is high being 30mg per 100 gm but is reduced to 8 mg after storage of 9 months. Cooking potatoes unpeeled conserves most of the vitamin B, C and salts. Peeling a potato and cutting it into pieces before it is boiled reduces its vitamin content considerably. If cooked potatoes are reheated there is a further loss of vitamins.

 The sodium content of potato is less but it is rich in potassium content. Potato, due to the above nutritional property helps in keeping blood pressure low. The magnesium present in the potato also exerts a beneficial effect in lowering blood pressure. The other use of magnesium is that it prevents calcification of tissue like kidney and in over coming formation of stones in the bladder.

 The most popular form of potato among the youngsters is potato chips. Even though potato has less fat and sodium, in chips both are more due to the way we cook. Among the chips finger chips will have less fat and sodium content than thin wafers. These preparations are not advisable for people who are having high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease, renal diseases or obese people.


 The potato cell has a cellulose envelope, which is broken down on cooking allowing digestion of starch by intestinal juices. It is easy to digest and hence smashed potatoes can be given even to young infants and invalid. Potato form an alkaline food which is good for people suffering from hyper acidity. It is used in many dishes as a binding agent. Potato has its use in beauty care. Potato face pack is good for the skin especially for dry pigmented skin.

 Solanine and chaconin are alkaloid present in green and sprouted potatoes. Consumption of these alkaloids in excess can be poisonous. 100 gm of potato has normally less than 7mg. The maximum permissible is 20 -25 mg per 100 gm fresh potato weight. So green patches present in potato if any must be discarded. The toxicity is more when it is eaten as baked potato and this is less likely when boiled and peeled. The toxic symptoms are headache, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and even circulatory collapse. Other rare symptoms are mental confusion, stupor and hallucination. Solanine can cause rarely migraine or drowsiness in sensitive people even when eaten in small quantity.
 Potatoes are good sources of carbohydrate.
 It is a useful source of vitamin C.
 It is good for high blood pressure patient.
 Potatoes are good for hyper acidity patient.
 It can be given to infants and invalids since it is easy to digest.
 Green part of potato has toxin, so this part should be discarded.
 It can be used as a facemask.

 Nutritional Profile Table:

   Health benefits and concerns of Potato:

 Potatoes are a very popular food source. Unfortunately, most people eat potatoes in the form of greasy French fries or potato chips, and even baked potatoes are typically loaded down with fats such as butter, sour cream, melted cheese and bacon bits. Such treatment can make even baked potatoes a potential contributor to a heart attack. But take away the extra fat and deep frying, and a baked potato is an exceptionally healthful low calorie, high fiber food that offers significant protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

 Our food ranking system qualified potatoes as a very good source of vitamin B6, a good source of the vitamins C, B3 (niacin), and B5 (pantothenic acid); dietary fiber; and the minerals copper, potassium, iron and magnesium.
 Potatoes also contain a variety of phytonutrients that have antioxidant activity. Among these important health-promoting compounds are carotenoids, flavonoids, and caffeic acid, as well as unique tuber storage proteins, such as patatin, which exhibit activity against free radicals.

  Vitamin B6:Building Your Cells

 If only for its high concentration of vitamin B6,a cup of baked potato contains 32.3% of the daily value for this important nutrient--the potato earns high marks as a health-promoting food.

 Vitamin B6 is involved in more than 100 enzymatic reactions. Enzymes are proteins that help chemical reactions take place, so vitamin B6 is active virtually everywhere in the body. Many of the building blocks of protein, amino acids, require B6 for their synthesis, as do the nucleic acids used in the creation of our DNA. Because amino and nucleic acids are such critical parts of new cell formation, vitamin B6 is essential for the formation of virtually all new cells in the body. Heme (the protein center of our red blood cells) and phospholipids (cell membrane components that enable messaging between cells) also depend on vitamin B6 for their creation.


  Vitamin B6--Athletic Performance:

 B6 is also necessary for the breakdown of glycogen, the form in which sugar is stored in our muscle cells and liver, so this vitamin is a key player in athletic performance and endurance.

 Athletic performance:Carbohydrate food is the most efficient fuel for energy production and can also be stored as glycogen in muscle and liver, functioning as a readily available energy source for prolonged, strenuous exercise. For these reasons, carbohydrates may be the most important nutrient for sports performance. Depending on training intensity and duration, athletes require up to 4.5 grams of carbohydrates per day per pound of body weight or 60 to 70 percent of total dietary calories from carbohydrates, whichever is greater. Including starchy vegetables in the diet is one good way to obtain these carbohydrates.

  Vitamin B6:Brain Cell and Nervous System Activity

 Vitamin B6 plays numerous roles in our nervous system, many of which involve neurological (brain cell) activity. B6 is necessary for the creation of amines, a type of messaging molecule or neurotransmitter that the nervous system relies on to transmit messages from one nerve to the next. Some of the amine-derived neurotransmitters that require vitamin B6 for their production are serotonin, a lack of which is linked to depression; melatonin, the hormone needed for a good night's sleep; epinephrine and norepinephrine, hormones that help us respond to stress; and GABA, which is needed for normal brain function.

  Vitamin B6:Cardiovascular and Cancer Protection

 Vitamin B6 plays another critically important role in methylation, a chemical process in which methyl groups are transferred from one molecule to another. Many essential chemical events in the body are made possible by methylation, for example, genes can be switched on and turned off in this way. This is particularly important in cancer prevention since one of the genes that can be switched on and off is the tumor suppressor gene, p53. Another way that methylation helps prevent cancer is by attaching methyl groups to toxic substances to make them less toxic and encourage their elimination from the body.

 Methylation is also important to cardiovascular health. Methylation changes a potentially dangerous molecule called homocysteine into other, benign substances. Since homocysteine can directly damage blood vessel walls greatly increasing the progression of atherosclerosis, high homocysteine levels are associated with a significantly increased risk for heart attack and stroke. Eating foods rich in vitamin B6 can help keep homocysteine levels low. In addition, diets high in vitamin B6-rich foods are associated with overall lower rates of heart disease, even when homocysteine levels are normal, most likely because of all the other beneficial activities of this energetic B vitamin.

 A single baked potato will also provide you with 14.7% of the daily value for fiber, but remember the fiber in potatoes is mostly in their skin. If you want the cholesterol-lowering, colon cancer preventing, and bowel supportive effects of fiber, be sure to eat the potato's flavorful skin as well as its creamy center.


  Osteoarthritis(OA):

 Solanine is a substance found in nightshade plants, including tomatoes, white potatoes, all peppers (except black pepper), and eggplant. In theory, if it is not destroyed in the intestine, solanine could be toxic. A horticulturist, Dr. Norman Childers, hypothesized that some people with OA may not be able to destroy solanine in the gut, leading to solanine absorption resulting in OA. Eliminating solanine from the diet has been reported to bring relief to some arthritis sufferers in preliminary research. Researchers have never put this diet to a strict clinical test; however, the treatment continues to be used by some doctors in people who have OA. Proponents claim exclusion of solanine requires up to six months before potential effects can be seen. Totally eliminating tomatoes and peppers requires complex dietary changes for most people. In addition, even proponents of the diet acknowledge that many arthritis sufferers are not helped by using this approach. Therefore, long-term trial avoidance of solanine-containing foods may only be appropriate for people with severe cases of OA who have not responded to other natural treatments.


  Applications of Potato:

 1.For general weakness and hypertension:
 Use 300 g potato, 100 g shallot, 4 cloves of garlic and 150 g carrot. Clean all the materials as routine but do not peel them, except for garlic. Put them in a pot and cook with slow fire until half of the water volume is gone. Add a little salt and monosodium glutamate as desired. Take one cup at the end of each meal.

 2.For peptic ulcer:
 Clean 1,000 g potato without peeling it first. Mince and then wrap in gauze to squeeze out juice. Then simmer this juice with very slow fire until very sticky. This potato glue is very good for relieving pain and healing ulcers. Take a teaspoonful at each meal for a successive period of 2-3 months.
 Fresh juice may be also mixed with equal amount of honey for peptic ulcer. Adminster also at each meal.

 3.To treat burns:
 Potato juice may be applied topically for burns and skin eczema.
 


   Functions,Medicinal Uses of Potato:

 Nourishes the spleen and benefits the stomach; stops pain and relieves urgency, detoxifies and relieves swelling.
 Its function is somewhat similar to that of sweet potato, only a little bit weaker. So, it is a spleenic and stomach tonic and is good for general weakness of the body.
 Potatoes are frequently served whole or mashed as a cooked vegetable and are also ground into potato flour, used in baking and as a thickener for sauces. They are also eaten as potato chips and fries in fast food industry. Potatoes are highly digestible.

  Medicinal Uses of Potato:

 Whilst mainly used as a staple food, potatoes do also have a number of medicinal virtues. A juice made from the tubers, when taken in moderation, can be helpful in the treatment of peptic ulcers, bringing relief from pain and acidity. Excessive doses of potato juice can be toxic - do not drink the juice of more than one large potato per day. A poultice has been made from boiling potatoes in water. This is applied as hot as can be borne to rheumatic joints, swellings, skin rashes, haemorrhoids etc. Peeled but uncooked potatoes have been pounded in a mortar and then applied cold as a soothing plaster to burns and scalds[4]. Potato skins are used in India to treat swollen gums and to heal burns.
 The tubers contain very small quantities of atropine alkaloids. One property of these alkaloids is the reduction of digestive secretions, including acids produced in the stomach.
 The leaves are antispasmodic.


  Other Uses:

 Alcohol; Biomass; Cleanser; Cosmetic; Polish; Size; Starch.
 The tubers are a source of starch that is used in sizing cotton and to make industrial alcohol etc. It also has many other uses in industry.
 Ripe potato juice is an excellent cleaner of silks, cottons and woollens. The water in which potatoes have been boiled can be used to clean silver and to restore a shine to furniture.
 Emollient and cleansing face masks are made from potatoes, these are used to treat hard, greasy and wrinkled skins.
 The potato is a good source of biomass. When boiled with weak sulphuric acid, potato starch is changed into glucose and this can then be fermented into alcohol.
 


   Dosage and Administration of Potato:

 There are many ways to enjoy potatoes. Just about every preparation, including mashed, works well with the potato skin intact; keeping the skin on also retains nutrients. Here are some tips on some of the most popular preparation techniques.

  Properties of Potato:

 Sweet in flavor, mild in nature, it is related to the stomach, spleen and large intestine channels.
 Cautions: Green potatoes and sprouts that grow on potatoes are toxic - be sure to remove the eye of sprout imbedded in the potato.


   Modern Researches of Potato:

 Potato contains large amounts of starch, protein, colloid material, vitamins B1 and C, potassium, solanin, amino acids, thiamin and nicotinic acid.
 Although supplying only 11 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, potatoes are usually eaten in large quantities so they make an important contribution to vitamin C intakes.
 Whilst mainly used as a staple food, potatoes do also have a number of medicinal virtues. A juice made from the tubers, when taken in moderation, can be helpful in the treatment of peptic ulcers, bringing relief from pain and acidity.
 A poultice has been made from boiling potatoes in water. This is applied as hot as can be borne to rheumatic joints, swellings, skin rashes, haemorrhoids, etc.
 Peeled but uncooked potatoes have been pounded in a mortar and then applied cold as a soothing plaster to burns and scalds. Potato skins are used in India to treat swollen gums and to heal burns.
 The tubers contain very small quantities of atropine alkaloids. One property of these alkaloids is the reduction of digestive secretions, including acids produced in the stomach.

 The leaves are antispasmodic.
 Emollient and cleansing face masks are made from potatoes, these are used to treat hard, greasy and wrinkled skins.
 The tubers are a source of starch that is used in sizing cotton and to make industrial alcohol, etc. It also has many other uses in industry.
 The potato is a good source of biomass. When boiled with weak sulphuric acid, potato starch is changed into glucose and this can then be fermented into alcohol.
 Ripe potato juice is an excellent cleaner of silks, cottons and woollens. The water in which potatoes have been boiled can be used to clean silver and to restore a shine to furniture.


 Effects of steroidal glycoalkaloids from potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) on in vitro bovine embryo development.:

 alpha-Solanine and alpha-chaconine are two naturally occurring steroidal glycoalkaloids in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and solanidine-N-oxide is a corresponding steroidal aglycone. The objective of this research was to screen potential cyto-toxicity of these potato glycoalkaloids using bovine oocyte maturation, in vitro fertilization techniques and subsequent embryonic development as the in vitro model. A randomized complete block design with four in vitro oocyte maturation (IVM) treatments (Experiment 1) and four in vitro embryo culture (IVC) treatments (Experiment 2) was used.
 In Experiment 1, bovine oocytes (n=2506) were matured in vitro in medium supplemented with 6 microM of alpha-solanine, alpha-chaconine, solanidine-N-oxide or IVM medium only. The in vitro matured oocytes were then subject to routine IVF and IVC procedures.

 Results indicated that exposure of bovine oocytes to the steroidal glycoalkaloids during in vitro maturation inhibited subsequent pre-implantation embryo development. Potency of the embryo-toxicity varied between these steroidal glycoalkaloids.

 In Experiment 2, IVM/IVF derived bovine embryos (n=2370) were cultured in vitro in medium supplemented with 6 microM of alpha-solanine, alpha-chaconine, solanidine-N-oxide or IVC medium only. The results showed that the pre-implantation embryo development is inhibited by exposure to these glycoalkaloids. This effect is significant during the later pre-implantation embryo development period as indicated by fewer numbers of expanded and hatched blastocysts produced in the media containing these alkaloids. Therefore, we conclude that in vitro exposure of oocytes and fertilized ova to the steroidal glycoalkaloids from potatoes inhibits pre-implantation embryo development. Furthermore, we suggest that ingestion of Solanum species containing toxic amounts of glycoalkaloids may have negative effects on pre-implantation embryonic survival.


  Scientific References:

  1.Potato papa or Solanum tuberosum,what is the fame of the Potato except Potato famines and more...