On 10/30/2011 11:03 PM, Polly Esther wrote:
>
> "phaeton" <> wrote in message >I was making my famous beef stew. When it
> came time to peel and chop
>> the potatoes to put into the pot, it turned out that they were green.
>>
>> I considered the following options:
>>
>> 1) Finish simmering, cool it down, refrigerate, then purchase
>> additional potatoes tomorrow to simmer in the pot with them.
>>
>> 2) Reduce the stew a little, and pair it up with a bed of brown rice.
>>
>> 3) Add whole wheat pasta (on hand) to round it out.
>>
>>
>> I went with #3, boiling the pasta separately and adding it to the
>> stew. It took a whole 14oz box of whole wheat rotini to create the
>> desired consistency.
>>
>> This was the right choice.
>>
>> OB Food is served.
>
> It seems like AB or Shirley says that green potatoes are poisonous. I
> kind of doubt it since I've probably cooked them and haven't noticed
> that anybody died. Polly

Potatoes are part of the nightshade family, and the active poison is
solanine. Solanine is present in all potatoes in small amounts and to be
sickened by it in ordinary potatoes one would have to eat several pounds
of them at once. But when potatoes are exposed to sunlight or very cold
or very warm temperatures during storage, higher concentrations of
solanine form. It's presence is indicated by the green coloration the
skin, flesh and eyes of the potato take on. The green itself is
chlorophyll, but the chlorophyll build up is the give away that toxic
amounts of solanine are present.

I've eaten green potatoes before and had nothing happen. I've also eaten
green potatoes and gotten quite sick. The advice is if there's just a
little green, little enough that you can trim it off and still have
enough potato left to bother with, go ahead and use it. But if most of
the potato's skin or flesh is involved, discard it.