On Fri, 3 Aug 2007 18:22:03 +0100, "keith" wrote:

Maybe not a proper gardening question but a lot of the potatoes we buy in
the supermarkets just now, turn green.

Supermarket lighting + clear plastic bags can cause potatoes to go
green in 12 hours. :-( Look at them in the shop and don't buy them
if they are starting to go green. Once you get them home take them out
of the plastic bag (moisture encourages greening, it's part of the
process of growth after all) and keep them in a paper bag (ideally an
old potato sack) in a cool dark place.

NB, Not refrigerated, fridge temperatures cause potatoes to spoil.

The green appears to be only on the
peel but I have read somewhere that green potatoes can be poisonous.

Potatoes, Solanum Tuberosum, come from the same family as deadly
nightshade. 8-((

The greening which is simply chlorophyll accompanies the development
of alkaloid poisons (one of which is Solanine) which are at high
levels in the green parts of the plant (stems and leaves) and the
fruit but normally at very low levels in the tubers, they have been
bred to be like that, so don't eat wild potatoes if you find any.

Mild cases of poisoning cause the same symptoms as other digestive
upsets, griping in the gut, squitters etc. and probably go
unidentified and unreported. Rarely, serious cases have caused deaths
in humans, none AIUI since WW2. Historically the story goes that
serious poisoning has occurred when starving people have had nothing
else available to eat but green potatoes.

The only safe recommendation has to be don't eat green potatoes, or
potatoes which have sprouted. It is not sufficient to cut away the
greened part, and cooking does not destroy all of the poisons. The
eating of green potatoes by pregnant women is suspected to be a
possible cause of foetal damage or stillbirth.

Has anyone in the group noticed this and also should we be worried ??


No need to worry, you'd need to eat several pounds of them to cause
serious symptoms. Women of child-bearing potential should perhaps be
more circumspect.

DG