The 400 harvests of the best potatoes in the world

The producers ofAssociation of Old Potato Harvesters of Icod el Alto At the beginning of August, the collection culminates in land scattered around the middle of Los Realejos, such as this one in La Corona, where Anatolio works with other farmers. The collective has just started this year this year’s marketing of some of the 13 varieties they grow. They gather and keep them in the chambers of their headquarters on the road to La Corona number 54, near the farm, where they sell them at a price of between 3 and 6 euros per kilo. It is very difficult to find them anywhere else, not even in the island markets, where egg yolks predominate. Here in Icod el Alto they don’t plant egg yolk. They opt for higher quality varieties such as the bonitas, wigs, lilies, borellas, red baga and terrenta.

From Peru

They arrived just 400 years ago in Los Realejos from the fatherland of the potato, Peru, and the adaptation to the particular conditions of this part of northern Tenerife have made them native varieties, with unique colors and flavours, with sweet and fruity tones that have catapulted them to the highest international prestige. Judith Delgado, coordinator of the Association, admits that orders arrive from all over the planet: Germany, France, the United States, South America, Arab countries, the Peninsula… It is not possible. The old potato varieties –13 in Icod el Alto and 29 throughout Canary Islands– They cannot leave the Archipelago as export is prohibited due to a plague: the Guatemalan moth.

Antonio Hernández has not been affected as much by the moth on his farm in El Llano, but Anatolio Luis Domínguez has. Both help to separate the bichadas potatoes on the land of La Corona while they agree that this plague is “a nightmare”. «Look how this one is, all eaten by the moth; what a pity”, details Anatolio holding a potato that comes rotten from the ground. It all depends on the terrain but in most at least 50% of production is discarded, as is the case of this exploitation of the Association of Icod el Alto. Of course, those that are saved maintain the excellence of always or even improve. Both farmers explain why these varieties have a texture and flavor so appreciated by the best chefs: “They take a lot of work.” These potatoes are in the ground twice as long (6 months) than the rest of the varieties, they have adapted very well to the island’s climate and orography (between 400 and 800 meters of altitude, permanent humidity brought by the trade winds, temperate temperatures , fair solar radiation, fertile land…), they have an unbeatable Andean genetic base and feed only on the mist and the water that comes down naturally from the summit.

The export ban is not, however, a major inconvenience for the Old Potato Growers Association of Icod el Alto, which brings together a dozen producers. “We wouldn’t have as many potatoes to send abroad”, points out Judith Delgado, who recalls that the 16,000 kilos that they collect on average per year, once the bichadas potatoes have been eliminated, are sold in the island market in October or at the latest in November. This year, for example, the group planted an area of ​​10,500 square meters on different lands and 1,400 kilos of seeds. Exquisite dishes will come out of that, as recalled by another of the Association’s farmers, Francisco González, who keeps part of the potatoes for his own consumption: “I prepare them stewed, with meat, fried, roasted, like tostones… They can also be used for cold dishes such as salad. How good are the salads with old potatoes!».

In the royal DNA

For Francisco and for the rest of the members of the realejero group, these tubers are part of their lives. “They are tasty and creamy, and last longer than regular varieties. And they go very well for the eyes due to their colors. I have eaten them since I was a child and I will never get tired of them because they are delicious », says Francisco, while Anatolio points out that his family has been planting them since he was born. For this reason, all of them continue with these varieties despite the difficulties, not only of this product in particular, but of the field in general. “Everything is very complicated. The prices of fuel, grain, energy go up… But we are going to continue harvesting these potatoes so that they are not lost and because they are part of our lives, our memories and our traditions,” says Anatolio.

They come from some of thes 4,000 varieties grown in the Andean region of Peru and Bolivia Thousands of years ago. Europeans discovered them between the 16th and 17th centuries, after Christopher Columbus opened the route to the New World. These tubers entered Europe through the Canary Islands, where they found favorable conditions. Although there are references to occasional shipments in 1567 or 1574, the historian José de Viera y Clavijo, in his Dictionary of Natural History of the Canary Islands, published in 1799, sets in 1622, four centuries ago now, the origin of the cultivation of the varieties from which the current old potatoes in Los Realejos come. “The first potatoes were brought from Peru by Juan Bautista de Castro around the year 1622. This gentleman had them planted on his land in Icod el Alto, from where they have happily spread throughout the Canary Islands.” Time has also proved Viera and Clavijo right, since Icod el Alto is the area of ​​Europe where they are most deeply rooted. And the home of the guardians of those first potatoes, who take care of themselves at the foot of Mount Teide.

anniversary celebration

With a Denomination of Origin seal since 2012, the anniversary is celebrated this year with special intensity in Los Realejos, especially in Icod el Alto. The weight of the potato in royal history is crucial. It’s in your DNA. Hence, the City Council has organized a program of activities. On July 14, an international conference on ancient crops and the history and trajectory of this tuber was held, and on September 24, the fair to be held in the Icod el Alto square will be dedicated to ancient potatoes. It was not always an appreciated product. “His harvesters came to be persecuted by the Inquisition. They thought that potatoes had malignant characteristics. Luckily here, in the Canary Islands, the Inquisition did not have much weight and the potatoes continued to evolve… », assures Anatolio.

Not everyone on the Islands knows the ancient potato mystique from Los Realejos. Not even the fact of being unique on the planet, of hoarding so much quality and being so versatile in the kitchen. “A lot of people in Tenerife He does not know them well, nor does he know that in Icod el Alto we produce varieties that are not going to be found anywhere else in the Archipelago and in the world,” says Francisco González, who picks up pretty potatoes with one hand and holds a bucket with the other. Of course, he and Anatolio clarify that “despite this ignorance, they are increasingly valued more.” It is the result of promotional campaigns such as this year’s anniversary.

“Richer than ever”

The 400th harvest this year brings potatoes “richer than ever”, says Antonio Hernández, whose farm in El Llano has 7 of the 13 varieties of Icod el Alto. “Since it hasn’t rained much, they come with a better flavor. The bad thing is that the usual thing happens: we try to save as many potatoes as possible, but many kilos end up being fed to the pigs». She points out, while she looks at the ground to see how many the harvester pulls out, that no more can be planted on this land for another two or three years. “We do crop rotations to take care of the soil so that when it’s time to plant potatoes, it is in the best conditions,” she details. On another piece of land nearby, Anatolio finds various types of red wigs. “These are the stews and you accompany them with a good fish and you don’t see…”.