Today, October 27, 2014, is National Potato Day. The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum L. Potatoes originated in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago. Potatoes were introduced outside the Andes region approximately 4 centuries ago. The potato is the fourth-largest food crop in the world. Wild potato species occur throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. The English word potato comes from Spanish patata (the name used in Spain). There are about 5,000 potato varieties worldwide.
