Potatoes come in red, white, yellow and even blue and purple, with
many varieties of each.
Kitchen Kleen Potatoes are always prime Russet Burbank potatoes, a high quality
variety of white potato. While Russet Burbank potatoes are hard to
grow, they are a high quality potato that tastes great and has many
uses.
Russet Potatoes
Russets are the most widely used potato in the
USA, a large majority of which are grown in the Northwest. Russets have netted brown
skin and white flesh that turns fluffy when cooked. Russets are all-purpose
potatoes for baking, roasting, mashing and frying. They are available
year-round. Some major varieties are the Burbank, Centennial, Norgold,
Norkotah, Ranger.
The
developer of the Burbank potato, Luther Burbank, was an American
botanist, horticulturist and a pioneer in agricultural science. He
developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his
55-year career. He developed the Burbank potato in Lunenburg,
Massachusetts, in the early 1870s. In 1875, Burbank sold his farm
and the rights to his potato, and moved to Santa Rosa, California. A
natural genetic variant of the Burbank potato with russet-colored
skin later became known as the Russet Burbank potato. This large,
brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's
predominant potato in food processing.
Kitchen Kleen Russet Potatoes
Whenever you buy Kitchen Kleen Potatoes the taste, texture and cook
times will always be the same and consistent because of the fact
that we do not switch varieties. We have experimented with other
varieties of the Russet, and cannot find anything that has come
close to the Russet Burbank for quality and consistency.
Sometimes you can buy a brand of potatoes in the grocery store and
they will cook and taste one way and the next week when you buy the
same brand of potato it will cook and taste differently because it
is a different variety of Russet in the bag. So remember that
Kitchen Kleen Potatoes will always have that consistent taste and
texture that's important to every recipe.
Migration and movement Inca Indians in Peru were the first to cultivate potatoes in
about 200 BC.
In 1536 Spanish Conquistadors conquered Peru, became aware of the
potato, and carried them to Europe.
Before the end of the sixteenth century families of Basque sailors
began to cultivate potatoes along the Biscay coast of northern Spain.
Sir Walter Raleigh introduced potatoes to Ireland in 1589 near Cork on
the 40,000 acres of land given to him by Queen Elizabeth I in 1581.
Potatoes arrived in the Colonies in 1621 when the Governor of Bermuda,
Nathaniel Butler, sent two large cedar chests containing potatoes and
other vegetables to Governor Francis Wyatt of Virginia at Jamestown.
The first permanent potato patches in North America were established in
1719, most likely near Londonderry (Derry), NH.
A. A. Parmentier helped King Louis XIV popularize the potato in France
in the 18th century. Parmentier created a feast with only potato
dishes, a concept he realized was possible while being imprisoned in
Germany and fed only potatoes. Benjamin Franklin, ambassador to France,
was in attendance of Parmentier's feast in 1767.
Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XV, was known to wear potato blossoms as
a hair decoration.
French Fries were introduced to the U.S. when Thomas Jefferson served
them in the White House during his Presidency of 1801-1809.
Over the years of cultivation in Ireland, the potato had become the
major food source to the Irish population. In 1845-46 a fungus
destroyed the potato crops causing the disaster of the Irish Potato
Famine.
In October 1995, the potato became the first vegetable to be grown in
space. NASA and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, created the
technology with the goal of feeding astronauts on long space voyages,
and eventually, feeding future space colonies.
Potatoes as currency During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush, (1897-1898) potatoes
were practically worth their weight in gold. Potatoes were so valued
for their vitamin C content that miners traded gold for potatoes.
On the South Atlantic Island of Tristan de Cunha, potatoes were once
used as the country's unofficial currency. Because of it's remoteness,
food was most valuable.
Unusual beliefs about potatoes Because the potato was unknown to them, Europeans initially
considered potatoes poisonous or evil due to their similarities to the
nightshade family. Some members of the nightshade family include
Mandrake and Belladonna, which are used for medicinal purposes.
Germany's King Frederick William realized that potatoes were a good
food source and ordered peasants to plant and eat potatoes or their
noses would be cut off.
Interesting uses of potatoes The Incas had many uses for potatoes other than dinner:
- Raw slices placed on broken bones to promote
healing.
- Carried to prevent rheumatism
- Eaten with other foods to prevent indigestion.
- Measured time: by correlating units of time by
how long it took for potatoes to cook.
French chemist Louis Lumiere used microscopic grains of potato starch
fixed on 9-inch by 12-inch glass plates to create and market the first
autochromes in 1907. Autochromes were widely used in photography before
the development of color film.
Various folk remedies recommend using potatoes to:
- Treat facial blemishes by washing you face daily
with cool potato juice.
- Treat frostbite or sunburn by applying raw
grated potato or potato juice to the affected area.
- Help a toothache by carrying a potato in your
pocket.
- Ease a sore throat by putting a slice of baked
potato in a stocking and tying it around your throat.
- Ease aches and pains by rubbing the affected
area with the water potatoes have been boiled in.
Some of the most famous potato dishes we enjoy today were created by
mistake Collinet, chef for French King Louis Phillipe (reign 1830-1848)
unintentionally created soufflés (or puffed) potatoes by
plunging already fried potatoes into extremely hot oil to reheat them
when the King arrived late for dinner one night. To the chef's surprise
and the king's delight, the potatoes puffed up like little balloons.
In 1853 railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt complained that
his potatoes were cut too thick and sent them back to the kitchen at a
fashionable resort in Saratoga Springs, NY. To spite his haughty guest,
Chef George Crum sliced some potatoes paper thin, fried them in hot
oil, salted and served them. To everyone's surprise, Vanderbilt loved
his "Saratoga Crunch Chips," and potato chips have been popular ever
since.
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