Good Evening People
I have just been having a discussion with my hubby about the green parts on a potato. I was under the impression if you peeled a spud and it was slightly green underneath the skin you could just lop that bit off, and boil the rest of the potato, if it is obviously black/green from being exposed before you even peel it then obviously i wouldn't touch it, which I haven't.
I dug up a lot of my Desiree's and where i had been distracted with studying had left the plants to their own devices therefore i had a about 20 tubers which were black green on bits and the rest looked OK. But some of them look a bit green once you take off skin. I remember seeing the same on shop bought ones and my mum cooking them anyway. But wikipedia says don't eat them because if solanine poisoning.
What do the rest of you think?
Kelly
I would not risk it if you are pregnant, or give to children. I have also heard that green potatoes are bad, but ones I have grown and are green have put on the compost, but have eaten green potatoes, not the green bits obviously, cut them off and are still OK (I think). Have heard that it can affect the unborn child, but so can many other things. Best not to risk it I think.
you know its funny with all this knowledge and stuff we learn something new everyday, and although i know now we shouldn't eat green tinged potatoes, i can't help wonder how i survived to acquire this info as while growing up in the west indies i ate loads of green tinged potatoes. ::) we also generally stored our potatoes in the kitchen in the vege tray never in the fridge/ dark, hence why some went a bit green. back then it waste not want not so unless it was completely rotten, generally we ate them. ho hum :-\
I've eaten the green bits many times, and come to no harm. I suppose it might poison you if you ate a huge quantity.
Couple of internet quotes....
" green potatoes result from excessive exposure to light, whether natural or artificial. The green itself is chlorophyll, which is not harmful. However, the same process of photosynthesis that produces chlorophyll also produces compounds called glycoalkaloids, such as solanine, that are toxic in large amounts."
"Solanine poisoning can be avoided by cutting off all green sections of the potato before cooking it. For people who tend to have allergic reactions, the entire potato should be discarded. "
I looked it up and I think you have to eat 4 lbs of green potatoes at one sitting before they kill you. Have to be more careful with young children and pregnant women. Did say in the old days that it caused spina bifaca in the unborn child. How about tomatoes, at the allotment his tomatoes got blight and he burnt them all, including the green ones, loads and loads. Would they have been OK for green chutney? Too late now all been burnt, and he was nearly in tears, picked at few of mine, almost ripe but find ripen well on the window cill. Just got to check my soup, courgettes of course, but load of other things thrown in, onions, garlic, sweetcorn from a tin and herbs etc. etc. Smells OK but might be disgusting, no green potatoes of course, mine were a perfect white.
I just chop off the green bits and cook the spuds and I'm still here.(I didn't earth up, I mulched with straw-not doing that any more as too many had green/black bits on). Of last years blight stricken toms I made loads of green tom chutney, and ripened lots under a bed on a tray. Any that were not too badly affected got the iffy bits cut out, skinned and cooked and frozen.
I think I should have rescued the toms from the bonfire and made green chutney. Loads of elderberries on the allotment but I suppose wine is cheap to buy and one has to know what one is doing to make good wine. I made some that tasted like sryrup and kept popping out corks in the bedroom. Think blackberries have almost finished, had loads and loads from allotment, growing wild, and think people buy them in supermarkets and then moan about the price when they grow for free, if you know where to look and I live in London.
The green is just an indicator that the potatoes have been exposed to the light. Exposure to light causes the poisonous glycoalkaloids such as solanine to form and the amount formed is independent to the amount of greening. The amounts formed vary between varieties and in some potato varieties fatal concentrations may be present in a relatively small amount of potato and other varieties you may have to eat a lot of potato to have any effect at all.
I would expect that older potato varieties that aren't in common use would have to be treated with more caution and possibly new varieties though breeders do test them for toxicity.
thanks guys xxx
I'm another one who has always cut off the green bits and eaten them with no ill effect, just as my mother did and I was brought up to do.