The German expression „Kartoffel“ is probably derived from the Italian word „tartufolo“, what means truffle. This is what the potato was compared with in the beginning. The word  „Erdäpfel“ is similar to the translation of the French expression „pommes de terre“. The English term „potato“ is derived from the Spanish „patata“. The Incas called them „papa“.

The potato originally comes from South America. The Incas already cultivated the potatoes for centuries in the Andes and used them as food.

Only in the middle of the 16th century, Spanish sailors brought some potato tubers to Europe. It still took some time until the tuber was accepted in whole Europe as a wholefood.

At first, the potato was cultivated in parks or botanical gardens as an ornamental plant due to its beautiful blossoms. When it became known that the potato can also serve as food, only the overground fruits were used. Though, this led to stomach and symptoms of poisoning since the overground parts of the potato are inedible or mildly toxic.

Blossom

Plant
(Blüte – Flower, Beerenfrucht –  Potato Berry, Blätter – Leaves, Wurzeln – Roots, Mutterknolle – Mother Tuber, Tochterknollen – Daughter Tuber)

In 1747, in the south of Braunlage in the Upper Harz, the initial steps of table potato cultivation in Germany were made. The large scale cultivation of the  potato in Prussia was also supported by the Prussian king Friedrich der Große. According to an anecdote, he installed potato fields near Berlin and sent some soldiers for guard. This helped to convince the curious farmers of the preciousness of these plants. They robbed the potatoes and tried them behind the back of the soldiers. Of course, this was the intention of the Prussian king. In 1756, he even issued a public order for potato cultivation in the whole country.

The preciousness of the potato as food was recognised first in Ireland in the beginning of the 17th century. The potato was perfectly suitable for the barren island and often represented the only food for the farmers.

Since 1780, you can effectively talk about further expansion of the potato cultivation in Germany. Precious nutritive substances and a large range of preparation methods allowed a healthy and wholesome nutrition with potatoes. The potato became the main food source of the people. This supported population growth, but increased the problem of famine in the case of bad harvests at the same time. In the beginning of the 19th century, potato diseases were introduced from America and led to extremely bad harvests for the potato monocultures.

From the end of the 19th century, the potato began to influence the whole agriculture of Germany and other European countries. During the post war years after World War II, potatoes were even grown in public parks instead of flowers.

Today everybody knows about the special importance of the potato. The potato grows on all continents and is cultivated in 130 countries worldwide. There exist 5000 cultivated varieties. In the list of the most produced foods, the potato is on the third place after wheat and rice. In the course of time, the potato tuber has come to play an essential role in food supply.

73% of the worldwide potato harvest is effected by 12 countries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation FAO, in 2005, the world production added up to 322 million tons of potatoes. With 11 million tons of harvested potatoes, Germany is on range 6 among the leading cultivation countries.

The potato is the only mass product on the agricultural market of the European Union for which there is no market regulation. This means that potatoes are produced under non-subsidised world market conditions.