Andean potatoes grown in Tenerife |
However, "Most scientists have long assumed that European potatoes, the foundation for all modern cultivated potatoes, come from the Chilean variety, because Chilean lowlands resemble Europe's environment most closely."
"But between the Americas and Europe, in potato history, lie the Canary Islands, off northwest Africa. Shipping records from 1567 make these islands the first known home to potatoes outside of Central and South America. And some researchers say the potatoes there resemble the Andean variety but have never had genetic proof." Solving the long-disputed controversy over the origin of the European potato, it turns out it's both Andean and Chilean origin. "Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of La Laguna in the Canary Islands and the International Potato Centre in Lima, Peru, used genetic markers to solve the mystery." Further, the report says that "Scientists believe the landraces of those early potatoes still grow there."
Local growers, it seems, would already consider that as fact.
Potato foundation story