During the Seven Years War of the mid-1700s, a French army pharmacist named Antoine-Augustin Parmentier was captured by Prussian soldiers.在18年代中期的七年战争中,一位名叫Antoine-Augustin Parmentier的法国陆军药剂师被普鲁士士兵俘虏。 As a prisoner of war, he was forced to live on rations of potatoes.作为战俘,他被迫靠口粮生活。 In mid-XNUMXth century France, this would practically qualify as cruel and unusual punishment: potatoes were thought of as feed for livestock, and they were believed to在XNUMX世纪中叶的法国,这实际上可被视为残酷和不寻常的惩罚:土豆被认为是牲畜的饲料,并且据信 引起麻风 in humans.在人类中。 The fear was so widespread that the French passed a law against them in 1748.这种恐惧是如此普遍,以至于法国于XNUMX年通过了一项针对他们的法律。
But as Parmentier discovered in prison, potatoes weren't deadly.但是正如Parmentier在监狱中发现的那样,土豆并不是致命的。 In fact, they were pretty tasty.实际上,它们非常美味。 Following his release at the end of the war, the pharmacist began to proselytize to his countrymen about the wonders of the tuber.在战争结束后被释放后,药剂师开始向他的同胞传授关于块茎奇观的信息。 One way he did this was by demonstrating all the delicious ways it could be served,他做到这一点的方法之一就是演示可以提供的所有美味方式, 包括土豆泥。 By 1772, France had lifted its potato ban.到XNUMX年,法国解除了对马铃薯的禁令。 Centuries later, you can order mashed potatoes in dozens of countries, in restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dining.几个世纪后,您可以在数十个国家/地区(从快餐店到高级餐厅)的餐厅订购土豆泥。
The story of mashed potatoes takes 10,000 years and traverses the mountains of Peru and the Irish countryside;土豆泥的故事历时XNUMX年,穿越了秘鲁的山区和爱尔兰的乡村。 it features cameos from Thomas Jefferson and a food scientist who helped invent a ubiquitous snack food.它的特色是来自托马斯·杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)和一位食品科学家的客串,他帮助发明了无处不在的休闲食品。 Before we get to them, though, let's go back to the beginning.不过,在我们接触它们之前,让我们回到开始。
马铃薯的起源
Potatoes aren't native to Ireland—or anywhere in Europe, for that matter.就此而言,马铃薯不是爱尔兰人或欧洲任何地方的人。 They were most likely domesticated in the Andes mountains of Peru and northwest Bolivia, where they were being used for food at least as far back as它们很可能是在秘鲁和玻利维亚西北部的安第斯山脉驯化的,至少在远古时候就已被用作食品。 8000 BCE.
These early potatoes were very different from the potatoes we know today.这些早期的土豆与我们今天所知道的土豆非常不同。 They came in a variety of他们有各种各样的 形状和大小 并有一个 苦味道 that no amount of cooking could get rid of.没有任何烹饪方法可以消除。 They were also slightly poisonous.他们也有毒。 To combat this toxicity, wild relatives of the llama would lick clay before eating them.为了抵抗这种毒性,美洲驼的野生亲戚会在食用黏土之前先舔黏土。 The toxins in the potatoes would stick to the clay particles, allowing the animals to consume them safely.土豆中的毒素会粘在粘土颗粒上,使动物可以安全地食用它们。 People in the Andes noticed this and started dunking their potatoes in a mixture of clay and water—not the most appetizing gravy, perhaps, but an ingenious solution to their potato problem.安第斯山脉的人们注意到了这一点,并开始将他们的土豆用黏土和水的混合物浸泡-也许不是最吸引人的肉汁,而是一种巧妙解决土豆问题的方法。 Even today, when selective breeding has made most potato varieties safe to eat, some poisonous varieties can still be bought in Andean markets, where they're sold alongside digestion-aiding clay dust.about即使在今天,当选择性育种使大多数马铃薯品种都可以安全食用时,仍然可以在安第斯市场上购买一些有毒品种,在这些市场上将它们与有助于消化的黏土粉一起出售。
By the time Spanish explorers brought the first potatoes to Europe from South America in the 16th century, they had been bred into a fully edible plant.到XNUMX世纪西班牙探险家将第一批土豆从南美带到欧洲时,它们已经被饲养成完全可食用的植物。 It took them a while to catch on overseas, though.不过,他们花了一段时间才赶上了海外。 By some accounts, European farmers were suspicious of plants that weren't mentioned in the Bible;从某种程度上讲,欧洲农民对圣经中没有提到的植物产生了怀疑。 others say it was the fact that potatoes grow from tubers, rather than seeds.其他人则说这是事实,即马铃薯是从块茎而不是种子中生长出来的。
Modern potato historians debate these points, though.不过,现代马铃薯历史学家对此争论不休。 Cabbage's omission from the Bible didn't seem to hurt its popularity, and tulip cultivation, using bulbs instead of seeds, was happening at the same time.白菜被圣经遗漏似乎并没有损害它的普及,并且同时发生了使用鳞茎代替种子的郁金香种植。 It may have just been a horticultural problem.这可能只是园艺问题。 The South American climates potatoes thrived in were unlike those found in Europe, especially in terms of hours of daylight in a day.南美马铃薯的繁荣发展与欧洲不同,特别是白天的小时数。 In Europe, potatoes grew leaves and flowers, which botanists readily studied, but the tubers they produced remained small even after months of growing.在欧洲,土豆长有叶子和花朵,植物学家很容易研究这些叶子和花朵,但是即使长了几个月,他们生产的块茎仍然很小。 This particular problem began to be remedied when the Spanish started growing potatoes on the Canary Islands, which functioned as a sort of middle ground between equatorial South America and more northerly European climes.当西班牙人开始在加那利群岛上种土豆时,这个特殊的问题就开始得到解决,这是赤道南美洲和欧洲北部气候之间的一种中间地带。
It's worth pointing out, though, that there is some evidence for the cultural concerns mentioned earlier.值得指出的是,有一些证据表明了前面提到的文化问题。 There are clear references to people in the Scottish Highlands disliking that potatoes weren't mentioned in the Bible, and customs like planting potatoes on Good Friday and sometimes sprinkling them with holy water suggest some kind of fraught relationship to potato consumption.苏格兰高地地区的人们明确提到不喜欢圣经中没有提到土豆,习俗如在耶稣受难日种土豆,有时向它们撒上圣水,这暗示着对土豆消费的某种担忧。 They were becoming increasingly common, but not without controversy.它们正变得越来越普遍,但并非没有争议。 As time went on, concerns about potatoes causing leprosy severely damaged their reputation.随着时间的流逝,对土豆引起麻风病的担忧严重损害了他们的声誉。
土豆泥食谱
A handful of potato advocates, including Parmentier, were able to turn the potato's image around.包括Parmentier在内的少数马铃薯倡导者得以扭转马铃薯的形象。 In her 18th-century recipe book在她的XNUMX世纪食谱中 烹饪艺术,英国作家汉娜·格拉斯(Hannah Glasse)指示读者煮土豆,去皮,放入锅中,然后与牛奶,黄油和少许盐捣碎。 In the United States, Mary Randolph published a在美国,玛丽·兰道夫(Mary Randolph)发表了 食谱 为了她的书中的土豆泥, 弗吉尼亚家庭主妇,这需要半盎司黄油和一汤匙牛奶来制造一磅土豆。
But no country embraced the potato like Ireland.但是没有一个国家像爱尔兰那样接受马铃薯。 The hardy, nutrient-dense food seemed tailor-made for the island's harsh winters.坚固,营养丰富的食物似乎是为岛上严酷的冬季量身定制的。 And wars between England and Ireland likely accelerated its adaptation there;英格兰和爱尔兰之间的战争可能会加速英格兰的适应。 since the important part grows underground, it had a better chance of surviving military activity.由于重要部分生长在地下,因此有更大的幸存军事活动机会。 Irish people also liked their potatoes mashed, often with cabbage or kale in a dish known as爱尔兰人也喜欢将土豆泥捣碎,通常将土豆与白菜或羽衣甘蓝一起捣碎。 马铃薯卷心菜泥。 Potatoes were more than just a staple food there;土豆不仅是那里的主食; they became part of the Irish identity.他们成为爱尔兰身份的一部分。
但是奇迹作物有一个重大缺陷: 易患疾病,尤其是马铃薯晚疫病,或 疫疫疫霉。 When the microorganism invaded Ireland in the 1840s, farmers lost their livelihoods and many families lost their primary food source.当微生物在XNUMX年代入侵爱尔兰时,农民失去了生计,许多家庭失去了主要的食物来源。 The Irish Potato Famine killed a million people, or an eighth of the country's population.爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒杀死了XNUMX万人,占该国人口的八分之一。 The British government, for its part, offered little support to its Irish subjects.就英国政府而言,它对其爱尔兰臣民几乎没有提供任何支持。
马铃薯饥荒的一个意想不到的遗产是 农业科学。 Charles Darwin became intrigued by the problem of potato blight on a humanitarian and scientific level;查尔斯·达尔文(Charles Darwin)对人道主义和科学层面上的马铃薯疫病问题产生了兴趣。 he even personally他甚至亲自 受资助 马铃薯育种 程序 in Ireland.在爱尔兰。 His was just one of many endeavors.他只是众多努力之一。 Using potatoes that had survived the blight and new South American stock, European agriculturists were eventually able to breed healthy, resilient potato strains and rebuild the crop's numbers.使用能够在疫病中幸存下来的马铃薯和南美新种群,欧洲农业学家最终能够繁殖出健康,有弹性的马铃薯菌株,并重新建立了农作物的数量。 This development spurred more research into plant genetics, and was part of a broader scientific movement that included Gregor Mendel's groundbreaking work with这一发展刺激了对植物遗传学的更多研究,并且是更广泛的科学运动的一部分,其中包括格雷戈尔·孟德尔(Gregor Mendel)的开创性工作 豌豆.
土豆泥贸易工具
Around the beginning of the 20th century, a tool called a ricer started appearing in home kitchens.大约在XNUMX世纪初,家用厨房中开始出现了一种称为“ rower”的工具。 It's a metal contraption that resembles an oversized garlic press, and it has nothing to do with making rice.这是一种金属装置,类似于超大蒜压榨机,与制作大米无关。 When cooked potatoes get squeezed through the tiny holes in the bottom of the press, they're transformed into fine,当煮熟的土豆从压榨机底部的小孔中挤出时,它们会变细, 大米 件。
The process is a lot less cumbersome than using an old-fashioned masher, and it yields more appetizing results.与使用老式捣碎器相比,此过程不那么麻烦,而且可以产生更多令人垂涎的结果。 Mashing your potatoes into oblivion releases将土豆捣碎成废料 糊化淀粉 from the plant cells that glom together to form a paste-like consistency.从植物细胞中凝结在一起,形成糊状的稠度。 If you've ever tasted “gluey” mashed potatoes, over-mashing was likely the culprit.如果您曾经尝过“土豆泥”土豆泥,可能是过度捣碎的罪魁祸首。 With a ricer, you don't need to abuse your potatoes to get a smooth, lump-free texture.有了稻草机,您就不必为了获得光滑,无结块的质地而滥用马铃薯。 Some purists argue that mashed potatoes made this way aren't really mashed at all—they're riced—but let's not let pedantry get in the way of delicious carbohydrates.一些纯粹主义者认为,用这种方法制成的土豆泥根本不是真的被捣碎,而是被碾成米饭,但不要让脚踏式的东西妨碍美味的碳水化合物。
即时土豆的进化
If mashed potato pedants have opinions about ricers, they'll definitely have something to say about this next development.如果土豆泥学究者对稻农有意见,那么他们肯定会对接下来的发展有话要说。 In the 1950s,在XNUMX年代, 研究人员 at what is today called the Eastern Regional Research Center, a United States Department of Agriculture facility outside of Philadelphia, developed a new method for dehydrating potatoes that led to potato flakes that could be quickly rehydrated at home.美国农业部位于费城郊外的今天称为东部区域研究中心的东部地区研究中心,开发了一种使马铃薯脱水的新方法,该方法导致马铃薯片可以在家里快速补充水分。 Soon after, modern instant mashed potatoes were born.不久之后,现代速溶土豆泥诞生了。
It's worth pointing out that this was far from the first time potatoes had been dehydrated.值得指出的是,这与土豆第一次脱水相去甚远。 Dating back to at least the time of the Incas,至少可以追溯到印加人的时间, 丘尼奥 is essentially a freeze-dried potato created through a combination of manual labor and environmental conditions.本质上是结合了体力劳动和环境条件制成的冻干马铃薯。 The Incas gave it to印加人送给 士兵 并用它来防止作物短缺。
Experiments with industrial drying were gearing up in the late 1700s, with one 1802 letter to Thomas Jefferson discussing a new invention where you grated the potato and pressed all the juices out, and the resulting cake could be kept for years.工业干燥的实验在XNUMX年代后期开始进行,一封给托马斯·杰斐逊(Thomas Jefferson)的XNUMX信讨论了一项新发明,您将马铃薯磨碎并榨出所有汁液,所得蛋糕可以保存数年。 When rehydrated it was “like mashed potatoes” according to the letter.这封信说,当再水化时,它就像土豆泥。 Sadly, the potatoes had a tendency to turn into purple, astringent-tasting cakes.可悲的是,土豆有变成紫色,涩味的蛋糕的趋势。
Interest in instant mashed potatoes resumed during the Second World War period, but those versions were a soggy mush or took forever.在第二次世界大战期间,人们对速溶土豆泥的兴趣恢复了,但是这些糊状的糊状或永久性的。 It wasn't until the ERRC's innovations in the 1950s that a palatable dried mashed potato could be produced.直到1960年代ERRC的创新才可以生产出可口的土豆泥。 One of the key developments was finding a way to dry the cooked potatoes much faster, minimizing the amount of cell rupture and therefore the pastiness of the end-product.一项重要的进展是找到了一种更快地干燥煮熟的马铃薯的方法,从而最大程度地减少了细胞破裂的可能性,从而使最终产品的糊状感降至最低。 These potato flakes fit perfectly into the rise of so-called convenience foods at the time, and helped potato consumption rebound in the XNUMXs after a decline in prior years.这些马铃薯片非常适合当时所谓的方便食品的兴起,并在前几年的下降之后帮助马铃薯的消费在XNUMX年代反弹。
ERRC研究人员之一Miles Willard继续在私营部门工作,在他的工作中,他使用重构的马铃薯片(包括品客薯片)为新型小吃做出了贡献。