Green Potatoes

Having recognised the symptoms of Solanine poisoning last week, I did a google & found (something that I should have already known ) that the green part of the potato is caused by Chlorophyl.

Being exposed to sunlight causes the production of Solanine throughout the tuber, so just cutting off the green bit doesn't work.

Solanine is also produced when the tuber is mechanically damaged, so basically don't eat green or damaged tubers unless you want the world to fall out of your bottom & enjoy lying on the bed with your heart beating stupidly.

 

Useful info there Mr Zig. I usually just cut off the green bits, but very thickly, taking a lot of the surrounding flesh off with it. No more from now on though.

 

Zigs
did you poison yourself , with green spuds just put in the cupboard for two weeks and they go back to non-poisonous
Zigs
Spruce

 

Ah ha, I wondered why you were acting strangely Zigs, kind of not "normal".
Now we know, the dreaded green spud rears its ugly head yet again.

Must admit to avoiding them when I can, but not that bothered about the odd one here or there.
And I'm almost "normal".

 

We can probably tolerate small amounts, but this was a girt tiddy. Enough for a whole serving.

Spruce, you're not catching me with that again, remember when you said if you put a hand grenade in the freezer for an hour & you can pull the pin without it going off

 

Zigs , and you believed me, but what about the time you said you needed bait for that Great White Shark and told me to hold the hook

 

Thats nothing, should have seen what happened when Aesculus asked me to feed his plants at the weekend.

 

Don't chuck out the masher too soon.

From this page:http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/killer-tomatoes-and-poisonous-potatoes/


Solanine is indeed a poison in large doses, causing everything from gastrointestinal symptoms to hallucinations, paralysis and death. Large amounts are toxic, but the amounts usually found in food are innocuous. It is poorly absorbed and rapidly excreted. It is estimated that it would take 2–5mg per kilogram of body weight to produce toxic symptoms. A large potato weighs about 300g and has a solanine content of less than 0.2mg/gm That works out to around 0.03mg per kilogram for an adult, a hundredth of the toxic dose; I figure a murderous wife would have to feed something like 67 large potatoes to her husband in a single meal to poison him. Unless he’s a phenomenally big eater, arsenic would be a better bet. Potatoes that are diseased with blight or that have sprouted have a larger than usual amount of solanine. They will have a bitter taste and often a green discoloration; such potatoes should be avoided. Even integrative health guru Andrew Weil is not afraid of solanine, pointing out that there hasn’t been a single case of solanine poisoning in the US from eating potatoes in the last 50 years.

Thank God. Nothing, but nothing is inducing me to hold back on the chips, tomato salads and aubergine parmigiana.

 

I'll challenge him to sit down & eat the same type of spud that I ate then

 

Send him the rest of the bag?

 

To be honest, looking thru the bag today, it looks like i've bought a bag of rejects. Most of them have green on, they are ,mostly mechanically damaged too. Might drop an email to the food standards agency, see if there is any Horse Potatoes in there too.