Potatoes--An Irish Aphrodisiac

Two hundred years of Irish reliance on potatoes proved an abundance of the staple assured an equal abundance of progeny. Size of families in the Emerald Isle was taken as proof that potatoes were an astounding aphrodisiac. It commenced with the introduction of Solanum tuberosum in 1586 and by an Englishman at that. Or was two or even three Englishmen? Sir Frances Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh and Thomas Cavendish have all been credited. In all likelihood it is all a myth. Indeed History Ireland, Ireland's history magazine, dismisses the popular tale of Walter Raleigh bringing back potatoes from exploring the Americas, to plant them on his Irish estate at Myrtle Grove, Youghal, near Cork. Raleigh was never potato-producing areas. A variation of this story is that Raleigh received is potatoes from Francis Drake. The privateer stopped off at Cartagena, Colombia in 1586, to lay in supplies for the voyage home after a profitable season sacking and pillaging cities and ships in the Caribbean to the despair of the Spanish there. Included in the stocks were said to have been potatoes, a few of which were later given to Raleigh to plant in his Irish estate.

Assigning Solanum tuberosum to Drake's stop-off in today's Colombia is on firmer ground. Forms of potatoes from that area would tuberise in the shorter days of European (and Irish) autumns. If so though it was in England that he unloaded the tubers. But History Ireland comes down firmly on an introduction directly from Spain. The potato was often known as An Spáinneach or An Spáinneach Geal (the white or kind-hearted Spaniard) in Ireland of the late 1500s and early 1600s. However, the publication notes that the lack of historical evidence should not dismiss the notion the staple arrived from England. Prior to that fatal fall day in 1845 there had been at least two dozen crop failures in the proceeding 200 years. Irish potatoes, such as the favourite 'Lumper,' were all derived from a very limited number of Peruvian forms. Hence when blight struck, it was with a vengeance never before seen. Indications that something was drastically wrong were noticed in September 1845. Foliage and stems were blackening and rotting. Worse, when the anticipated tubers were harvested, they too were found to be rotting and putrid. One-half of that season's crop was lost. The following autumn, three-quarter of the crop rotted. The first starvation deaths were recorded. In four years, to 1849, Ireland's population fell 25% due to mortality and emigration. Within ten years, the death toll reached one-and-a-half-million. Only the Black Death 1348-50 exceeded it. Between 1845 and 1855 more than 1.5 million adults and children left Ireland to seek refuge in US, Canada, Australia and England. Many made the passage on the notorious 'coffin ships.' If they were lucky enough to survive these, cholera and similar disease carried them off within days of landing. Originally, the population was largely dependent on oats and dairy: milk, cream, cheese, along with fish and occasional bacon. But with the change of diet, over three million of the Irish rural poor became totally dependent on potatoes for food. They were said to have eaten 7 to 14 pounds a day. For the Irish, the starchy tubers became known as the 'Apples of Life.'

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Despite the Irish saying, "Two things too serious to joke about: marriage and potatoes," the association of the inhabitants of Ireland and potatoes abound. The Irish themselves maintained that "if the potato misses, Ireland's beaten" Then there is said to be a seven-course Irish meal: six pints of Guinness and a free spud. The latter is claimed to derive from either the Gaelic or Cockney for a spade. In America, however, potatoes became known as 'mickeys' or 'murphys.' In a reversal, back in Britain, any son of the ould sod with the name Murphy automatically was nicknamed 'spud.' Along the way, the expression small potatoes signified insignificant things or people. A hot potato, though, was a person of significance. Some families were disparaged as being like potatoes--all that's good of them is underground. Today we know that the potato blight of the Great Irish Famine was caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans. Although they spread by spores, oomycetes are not fungi, despite even some well-established science journals making that error. They are closer to algae and some may be devastating to plants other than potatoes. P. infestans may also cause tomato late blight. The notorious sudden oak death (SOD) especially prevalent in California is caused by the Phytophthora ramorum. Despite the name, it attacks a wide range of other woody plants, including rhododendrons. It is also present in Europe. In New Zealand and Australia the incurable Kauri dieback, P. agathidicida, threatens valued timber production as well as treasured heritage trees. There are now over 4,500 varieties of cultivated Solanum tuberosum but disease is still a world-wide problem. True, there are genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potatoes. Thanks to campaigning by latter-day Luddites and their fellow anti-science travellers, these are unavailable for general cultivation. Until, perhaps, once again a massive outbreak of Phytophthora infestans threatens millions with starvation.