On 06/09/2014 08:06 AM, Higgs Boson wrote:

I always wondered about potatoes green under the skin.

Does this Snopes article deal with all-green, or just under skin?

Anybody have the skinny on this?

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/greenpotatoes.asp

HB



Hi Higgs,

Solanaceae!

Spent weeks on those critters in my college Economic Botany
class.

Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant are all members of the
Solanaceae family, commonly know as the "nightshade" family.

All Solanaceaes produce a poison called "belladonna". Some call
it "Solanine".

Here is a good reference on Solanaceae:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/...838/Solanaceae

Now the good new is that some enterprising humans in our
past hybridized reduced the poison out of the fruits
and the tubers. DO NOT, DO NOT eat the leaves. The leaves
are still poisonous.

Now for green potatoes, just peal off the green. What little
belladonna you get won't hurt you. The green should only be
skin deep. If they are green all the way through, toss them.

The green comes from exposure to light. Store them in a dark
place. Out in the open, under florescent lights at the
supermarket, will accelerate the greening up of potatoes.

Speaking of hurting you, those same enterprising humans also
increased the carbohydrate levels of potatoes to unnatural
levels not found it nature. You are much more likely to get
T2 Diabetes from them (1 out 6 chance) than to get nightshade
poisoning.

And, folks who eat a lot of nightshades do start to build
up a small resistance to belladonna. (You don't get resistant
to the excess carbs, unfortunately.)

Oh! If you like little potatoes, you must (friend for a suggestion,
not a command) try "Dintje". They were my favorite! I was
thinking of growing them before the Diabetes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bintje

I use to love my potatoes as hash browns fried in butter
with Rosemary. I will live vicariously through you.

-T