Potato is now the fourth most important food crop worldwide after wheat, rice and corn. For a long time the only known potato was seen as botanical curiosity. Rubens planted a potato plant as an ornamental plant in his garden. It took until 1800 before the potato was widely cultivated as food for the poor.
The potato is a plant that builds an underground power supply in the form of starch. The starch is stored in the form of tubers, which are also called potato or potatoes. The tubers are formed on underground stems, called stolons.
In many European and Western countries, potato is a basic food. Like rice, pasta and bread, potato is a major source of carbohydrates.
The potato belongs to the nightshade family, like tomatoes, peppers and tobacco. The green parts of potatoes are toxic. Another distinction between varieties with waxy potatoes, which retain their firmness during cooking, and breeds with mealy or mushy potatoes, which cook longer fall apart and is the most suitable for mashing.
The potato is brought from South America to Europe by Spanish explorers. It was probably the Amalya Diego in 1536 with the first plant in Peru or Chile, where the potato was known as chunu. Monks were responsible for the spread of the potato from Spain to other European countries. They grew the plant in their monastery gardens.