[Sca-cooks] Potatoes in Europe was Re: Four queries
James Prescott
prescotj at telusplanet.net
Fri Jul 13 10:41:26 PDT 2012
Again, many thanks.
The article from Crop Science is available online at:
https://www.soils.org/publications/cs/articles/47/3/1271
Thorvald
At 2:35 PM -0500 7/10/12, Terry Decker wrote:
> When I originally wrote about the bill of lading I hadn't seen it.
> I have since been gifted with further information including a
> facsimile and a transcription and translation of the particular
> line.
>
> The bill of lading is for goods shipped by Juan de Molina from Las
> Palmas in the Canaries to his brother, Luis de Quesada, in Antwerp.
> The original is in the archives of the public notary, Lorenzo
> Palenzuela, dated 28 November 1567 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
> It reads, "`Y asi mismo recibo tres barriles medianos [que] decis
> Ileven patatas y naranjas e lemones berdes". Which translates as,
> "And also three medium-sized barrels [which] you state contain
> potatoes and oranges and green lemons". Linguistic notes state
> that "papas" and "patatas" are contemporary references to white
> potatoes in the Canaries, while the sweet potato is still "batata."
>
> So, not only do we have potatoes being sent to Antwerp, but also
> oranges and green lemons (limes?)
>
> There is also a bill of lading reference to two barrels of potatoes
> and 8 barrels of brandy being shipped to Rouen in Apr. 1574
> (archives of public notary Luis de Balboa).
>
> The speculation is the potatoes were being grown in the Canaries by
> 1562 and possibly earlier, but they weren't being grown in mainland
> Spain, thus were not observed by Clusius in 1564. Subspecies found
> in the Canaries are S. andigena (Andean origin, but grown in
> Europe), S. tuberosum (European hybrid) and S. chaucha (a South
> American varietal not grown in Europe outside of plant collections,
> therefore almost assuredly a direct SA transplant).
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