Potato staple food is becoming a trend to see how small potatoes are popular all over the world

The snacks made with potatoes as the main raw materials are delicious and attractive.

Potato, the scientific name potato, is the fourth largest food crop in the world. According to the statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world's total potato output in 2013 was 376 million tons. With the establishment of the strategy of potato staple diet in China in recent years, the planting area of potato in China reached 5.57 million hectares in 2014, and the output of fresh potato was more than 95 million tons, accounting for about 1/4 of the world's area and output. China has become the largest country in potato production and consumption.

There are many names for potatoes in China. Guangdong is called "potato", Shanxi is called "yam egg", Fujian is called "Dutch potato". Beijingers call it "Tudou", a name that makes people almost forget that Tudou is not a native, but an "outsider" crossing the sea.

The origin of potatoes is in the remote Andes of South America. When the first European explorers arrived in Peru, they found that the locals planted an underground fruit called papa, which "became soft when cooked and tasted like fried chestnuts, covered with a not too thick skin". This is the potato. Later, potatoes were brought back to Europe as trophies by greedy colonists. After nearly a century, the use of potatoes was limited to garden planting.

Potatoes are widely recognized in Europe, and the Irish have made a great contribution. The land of Ireland was barren, the grain and wheat did not grow well, and potatoes quickly spread. At the end of the 18th century, potato has become the main crop in European countries. Modern science has proved that in addition to carbohydrates, potatoes can also provide quite a lot of protein and vitamins, and the eating method of potatoes is relatively simple.

In China, it is recorded in the complete Book of Agricultural Administration written by Xu Guangqi in the Ming Dynasty: "Potato, a potato, a Huang du, trailing leaves such as beans, round roots such as chicken eggs, inner white skin yellow." Cooking can also be steamed. " According to this, it is estimated that potato has been planted in China for more than 400 years. Since ancient times, China has taken rice and wheat as staple food, and potatoes are usually used as side dishes, so its main producing areas are relatively small, mainly concentrated in southwest mountain areas, northwest, Inner Mongolia and northeast regions.

Nowadays, in developed countries in Europe and the United States, potato has long been eaten as a staple food and plays an important role in people's diet. In China, the consumption form of potato is mainly fresh food, the processing and utilization lags behind the developed countries, and the key processing technology and equipment also come from the introduction and transformation of foreign related technology and equipment.

In 2014, the Chinese government issued the outline of China's Food and Nutrition Development (2014-2020), widely publicizing the nutritional value of potatoes. The medicinal value of potato is reflected in two aspects: one is its own medicinal value. According to the Compendium of Materia Medica, the ancient medical book Compendium of Materia Medica, potato has the effect of "tonifying deficiency, benefiting strength, strengthening spleen and stomach, and strengthening kidney yin", making people live longer and have less disease. The second is the role of its own physical properties in medicine. Potato starch can be used to make sugar coating, capsules, dental materials, medical glove lubricants, as well as vitamins, glucose and other pharmaceutical raw materials. Yu Xinrong, vice minister of agriculture, believes that promoting the development of horse bell potato staple food products and industries, processing potatoes into steamed bread, noodles, rice noodles, and other staple food products suitable for Chinese consumption habits, and scientifically guiding the consumption of potato staple foods, so that potatoes have gradually become one of the choices for residents to eat three meals a day, the conditions have been met, and the time is ripe.

"the main forms of potato processing products in China are starch, whole flour, fried potato chips and French fries, with a single type of products and low nutritional value, and lack of potato staple food products suitable for the eating habits of Chinese residents. As the horse bell potato is rich in nutrients needed by the human body, by adding a certain proportion of potatoes to the traditional staple food into a new type of potato staple food, it is expected to enhance the nutritional value of the traditional staple food. to a large extent, it will meet the needs of people to cultivate staple food. " Dai Xiaofeng, director of the Agricultural products processing Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told the Economic Daily, "We have compared and analyzed the nutritional content of potato staple food, vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients and dietary fiber. It is found that the nutritional value of staple food products such as potato steamed bread and noodles is higher than that of traditional staple food products such as wheat steamed bread and noodles."

The reporter learned that at present, the potato staple food research and development team in China has carried out the trial production of potato spaghetti, huli soup and other staple food products, and completed the study on the effect of adding whole powder on the rheological properties of potato dough. in the first step, the nutritional efficacy evaluation scheme of steamed bread containing 40% potato flour was determined, 55% ready-to-eat potato rice noodles were successfully produced, and 20 related patents were declared. In the research and development of special equipment, the preliminary completion of the horse bell potato noodle equipment selection and function transformation scheme, the manufacture of an integrated bionic rolling machine prototype and began to promote the market.

According to Wang Xiaohu of the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, there are two main parts of the processing potential of potato staple food in China in the future. at present, the production capacity of potato starch, whole flour (including cooked flour and cornflour), potato chips and frozen potato chips in China is about 500000 tons, 150000 tons, 300000 tons and 170000 tons respectively. Already have a certain processing basis. With the promotion of the industrialization of Ma Ling potato staple food, from the consumption demand of staple food products, it is estimated that the annual production capacity of potato flour in China will reach more than 10 million tons; second, the processing potential of staple food products, the annual processing capacity of potato staple food products mixed with wheat flour, rice and its rice flour is expected to reach about 20 million tons; the annual processing capacity of regional characteristic and leisure functional products is expected to reach about 8 million tons.