The Twelve Ingredients of A Christmas Dinner - Potatoes

The Twelve Ingredients of A Christmas Dinner - Potatoes

The humble potato is that thing staring at you from the dinner plate - be it bashed, boiled, bubble and squeaked, creamed, diced, fried, mashed, roasted, unpeeled and velouted. The variety of ways you can cook a potato is unrivaled by the worldwide number of potato varieties - with approximately five thousand cultivated species.

Three thousand of them are found in the South America mountain region of the Andes in Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is also thought that there are around 200 wild species and subspecies. These species can and have been introduced to the cultivated species to create resistances to pests and diseases (see below for those diseases).

For a food stuff that was brought to the English shores from the Americas, it is the fourth largest food group, following rice, wheat and maize. It is thought that it may very well change the Asiatic diet as, according to the United Nations FAO's (Food & Agricultural Organisation) figures for 2010; China produced 74.8 million metric tonnes. The annual diet of the average global citizen includes 33 kilogrammes or 73 pounds of potatoes according to this pdf.

But before you complain about the price of a potato before you drown your par-bolied potato in molten duck fat; think of what that potato and the potato producer had to go through. The PCL Information Sheet IS02, published by the Potato Council, found here reports that 2012 was a year of contrasts with an early drought followed by low levels of sunlight and then high rainfall that leads to low yields and a late harvest. It was reported that 71% of the harvest was complete by the end of October. And with water, there always comes problems - the cost of the production of a potato has increased by 13% (over 2011) due to the increase in fungicide use and other chemicals.

To think that the potato, a vague relation of deadly nightshade, is attacked by 7 bacterial diseases including brown rot; 30 fungicidal diseases; 6 Nematode parasites; 3 Phytoplasmal diseases; 39 Viral and Viroid diseases; and 13 Miscellaneous diseases and disorders (source). It is a miracle of agriculture that it actually makes it to your plate.

News from our Dutch Members

News from our Dutch members 

10 Dutch members met at Erik & Joke Ruesink’s Farmfair, unfortunately in bad weather. The Ruesinks welcomed us all and there was a great deal of chat and exchanging news, and then, after a very good meal, we went round the Fair together. There was a great variety of things to see, which was enjoyed by one and all.  Niek Ruyter, our Club President, told the members about the plans for next year’s Reunion in Italy, and quite a few people expressed an interest in joining the trip.

Did anyone take any photographs, please feel free to add them to the comments box at the bottom of this posting?

Using Google Translate, I shall attempt to translate the posting above into Dutch, do tell me in the comments box if I have succeeded or not. I apologise in advance, if it turns out to be rude.

 
10 Nederlandse leden ontmoet op Erik & Joke Ruesink's Farmfair, helaas bij slecht weer. De Ruesinks verwelkomde ons allen en er was een groot deel van chatten en het uitwisselen van nieuws, en dan, na een zeer goede maaltijd, gingen we rond de Fair samen. Er was een grote verscheidenheid van dingen te zien, die werd genoten door een en alles. Niek Ruyter, onze Club President, vertelde de leden over de plannen voor Reunion volgend jaar in Italië, en heel wat mensen interesse getoond in deelname van de reis.

Heeft iemand foto's nemen, aarzel dan niet om ze toe te voegen aan de opmerkingen box aan de onderkant van dit bericht?

Met behulp van Google Translate, zal ik proberen om de detachering boven in het Nederlands vertalen, doe me vertellen in de comments box als ik geslaagd of niet. Ik verontschuldig me bij voorbaat, als het blijkt te zijn onbeleefd.

In the last week, we had five views of the blog - 2 from the UK, 1 from France and 2 from China. It looks Russia's loss was China's gain. Have a good week.