On Monday, June 9, 2014 4:59:06 PM UTC-7, Todd wrote:
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".


Isn't that used to poison people in mystery novels?


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.

Damn, damn, damn! I had no idea "they" were ****ing with my potatoes!!!
As a card-carrying potato freak, I highly resent this meddling.

Would buying "organic", whatever THAT means in this day & age, get me
potatoes the way "God" made them? Surely SHE wouldn't ****with one of HER
creations...


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 "Bintje". They were my favorite! I was

thinking of growing them before the Diabetes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bintje

I'll see if they're sold around here (So. Calif). I've been getting my little darlings at Trader Joe



I use to love my potatoes as hash browns fried in butter

with Rosemary. I will live vicariously through you.

I nuke big potatoes & when they've cooled somewhat, slice & fry in butter with
paprika.

Sorry about the diabetes! Medical researchers,esp. the Israelis, are always coming up with technical & medical progress. I mean mind-blowing stuff that might help you. Not meaning to be pushy, but sometimes we have to do our own research.

Good luck!

HB

On 06/09/2014 10:41 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
Isn't that used to poison people in mystery novels?

Yes.

Somewhere I heard that Agatha Christy made sure
the poisons in her novels didn't actually work
to keep bad people from using them for real.