"jacqui{JB}" > wrote in message
. dk...
> "White Monkey" > wrote in message
> ...
>
> > "Everybody knows" that sprouting potatoes are poisonous.
> > But what degree is "sprouting"? I have one here, a large
> > blue truffle potato, from each eye of which was growing
> > a 1/2 cm long cluster of sprouts. I scraped them off and
> > dug out the first few mm of flesh under them, and the
> > potato under there looks fine. Is this safe to cook with,
> > specifically boiling and cubing it for use in a leftover-lamb-
> > roast pie? Is it only safe for adult-type humans? I'm
> > breastfeeding a six-month-old; does that make any
> > difference, or are we talking a strictly safe potato here?
>
> Peel off any green bits, dig out the sprouting eyes and you should be
fine.
> Personally, I'd give it a pass if it's getting spongy, but that's a
personal
> preference to do with texture, rather than a question of danger.
>
> -j


Thank you very much. It is firm and very much potato-like. Everywhere the
sprouts have been removed, it looks normal.

In answer to some of the others here, "if there is any question about its
safety" -- well, duh. But I don't claim to know the answer to whether or not
there IS any question about that, so I asked here where I thought people
might know. If everyone everywhere was throwing out every potato with the
faintest trace of a sprout or was getting sick, I think things would be
quite different regarding what I see for sale and in restaurants. There must
be a cut-off point beyond which the potato with signs of sprouting is
generally to be considered unsafe.

Use another one--again, duh. But at the moment I don't have one so that
means changing my dinner plans entirely and probably throwing out the lamb,
as I was planning to prepare the pie now so that when we get back from
having done what we need to outdoors, there would be time to cook it.
Instead, there will not, unless I can use this potato. Which it seems I
probably can.

They're not expensive--yeah, true. But this is the last blue one I'll be
able to get until the farmer's market next week, and it would be nice to use
it as they are very, very good. Just buying another one of any sort, as I
have indicated, involves changing all my dinner plan for today, and I don't
think the lamb will be good tomorrow, and I have already thawed the puff
pastry--but should further research reveal I cannot use this potato, then,
oh well, we'll chuck the lamb and the pastry and have spaghetti or something
else quick.
--Katrina