| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| bernie-woman |
green potatoesJust had a friend ring who has been given some potatoes with green ends etc.. i.e not totally green. She has just told me that you cannot under any circumstances eat even slightly green potatoes.I know that pots are from the deadly nightshade family etc.. and that green poatoes are poisonous but i was always under the impression that you could a bit of green from a potatoe and still eat it without any probs and that you wuld have to eat huge quantities for it to be harmful?? What are your thoughts |
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| sean |
I just cut the green bits off, and I'm still here. | ||||
| Behemoth |
I do and here I am. | ||||
| tahir |
Me too |
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| Bugs |
And me. Maybe if it's green all over, I might throw it out. Depends how desperate I am. | ||||
| jema |
People would drop like flies in this Country if it were that much of a problem. | ||||
| JB |
Another vote for trim the green bits off and eat the rest!
Is the toxin / poison / whatever in green potatoes the same as that found in their fruit? |
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| Bernie66 |
I tend to just peel the green bits off. I try not to peel potatos the rest of the time, i don't think that new or home grown potatos taste right unless you have got to pick bits of soil out of your teeth afterwards | ||||
| Viking_Chick |
From http://www.chestnut-sw.com/fastfact/greenpotatoes.htm
and
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| Bernie66 |
[quote="Viking_Chick"]From http://www.chestnut-sw.com/fastfact/greenpotatoes.htm
When i worked in Sainbury's we had to cover all potatoes every night as the customers left to try to slow this process down. Forgot one saturday night(before sunday trading), someone left the lights on all weekend and ruined all the stock.Not popular on Monday morning |
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| tawny owl |
Ditto. Been eating them for years with no ill effects. The quantities you'd have to eat are quite large - an average person would have to eat at least 1 kg of fully green potatoes at one sitting to approach the lower level of toxicity (200 mg), and it also gets broken down to an extent in the digestive tract. Because the solanine is concentrated in the skin, peeling can remove up to 60% of it. There have apparently been no cases of solanine poisoning from potatoes reported in the US in the last 50 years, and the most recent report I was able to find in the UK was in 1979, where 17 schoolboys became ill, but that was after eating potatoes from a bag that had been left out all during the summer holidays, which is a rather extreme example. In addition, modern varieties of potato have been bred to lower the levels of solanine, and therefore the advice to avoid green potatoes could be said to have been a lot more relevant a few decades ago. The cases in the US, which occurred in the 1960s, were from a new variety of potato called Lenape, which turned out to have extremely high levels of solanine. There are, however, a couple of things that should be noted. There is a theory that people with osteoarthritis may have their condition worsened by solanine and that they are less able to break it down, thus it may be wise for them to avoid all members of the nightshade family, including tomatoes and peppers. Another is that there is a link between eating blighted or green potatoes and spina bifida, so pregnant women should avoid them. Having said that, this research is based on the fact that the level of spina bifida in Ireland is the highest in Europe, and they also have the highest level of potato blight, BUT Irish people also have a genetic makeup that predisposes to spina bifida anyway, so the causality is a bit in doubt. Still, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to avoid green spuds if you're pregnant. |
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| bernie-woman |
Well thanks to everyone who have just backed up my comments to my friend, although she still doesn't believe me or you lot for that matter 
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