Potatoes are brown ( red ) when they start out and they turn green from being left in the sunshine... Cut the green off and you can eat the rest...

I've hear the same thing about the green and really don't know for sure if it's toxic or not... I just won't eat it... I'm old fashion, the inside of the potatoes are supposed to be white... lol

Hugs,
Rita

Our potatoes have green just under the skin too. We just peel off the skin/green parts and use the white. Of course, if we're making baked potatoes, we leave the skin on and when we load 'em up, I don't notice the green anymore. Go figure, huh?

Looking forward to your soup thread tomorrow :O)

Smiles,
Sooz

We don't get good potatoes down here at this time of year, do we Bobby? I just cut the green off too. I found a bag of Yukon Golds (5 lb, $2) at the farmers market--no green, no spots. Didn't know what to do!

The green is a toxic chemical, solanin. Its' also produced in the leaves and in the sprouts....
Yes, toxic but not very....besides it's bitter!
Cut the green part off and eat the rest....if you doubt that you have cut off enough taste the potato...if it's bitter, cut off more.
It's very unlikely that any bit of green you find on an otherwise fine potato will hurt you....but it won't taste good.
Linda C

I can't tell the difference. I have a whole bag of russets with green under the skin and just peeled one to taste. I can't detect any bitterness in the raw green part; it tastes exactly like the white part. Hub agrees with me (and this little experiment gave him even more proof that his wife is nuts!) I've eaten the green, when it's there, all my life, baked, fried, mashed.

Holy Moly! I wonder if THAT's why I had kidney cancer!

I usually buy 10 pound bags of russet potatoes and I look closely to make sure that the potatoes aren't green.

I have a large basket that is lined with a brown paper bag and I dump the potatoes out of the plastic bag and into the paper bag. You want to keep the potatoes out of the light. This prevents them from turning green.

Like Rita, I won't eat green potatoes.

Ann

Have had the "green" potato problem and just cut away the green. Used them for mashed potatoes on Sunday and no one has been sick. If they were really green I think I might discard, but these just had a bit of a green hue right under the skin, not into the potato.

Not sure I would have been brave enough to use them for baked potatoes tho:P

I agree, the green is from exposure to the sun, and it's mildly toxic to those who are sensitive to it. I find the green portions bitter tasting and so I cut the green portions off and cook the rest of the potato.

And I've been cutting the green off homegrown potatoes my whole life, it happens if a potato sticks up out of the ground while it's growing but we were always far too frugal to throw away a perfectly good potato. Just cut the green off and cook it!

Annie

Annie

I avoid them but laugh at the people saying they're toxic when we've all seen green potato chips!

cynic, the green is MILDLY toxic, but a 100 pound person would have to eat at least a pound of fully green potato to feel any ill efffects at all. Solanine can cause headaches and nausea, if taken in high enough amounts, but the green is actually chlorophyll, which is harmless to eat.

Potatoes produce a small amount of solanine naturally to repel pests. The green caused by chlorophyll is just an indicator that the solanine level is higher too, because solanine is produced at the same time the chlorophyll is.

So, you'd have to eat a LOT of green potato chips, and they'd have to be ALL green, not just green around the edges, before you'd even have a chance of getting sick.

So, another urban legend that has roots in the truth, but the green part is still bitter, and I'm not eating it if it doesn't taste good.

Annie

One old Canarian gardener I had at the time when I grew my own potatoes insisted that they be kept out of the moonlight as well as sunlight when we were storing them in the garden shed, which has a window. He insisted that even moonlight would turn them green. I still doubt that.

But potatoes belong to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, as are tomatoes, petunias, eggplant, nicotine, sweet and hot peppers, datura, and the alkaloids in them can range from mildly to extremely toxic.

SharonCb

I agree Annie, the green part is bitter and I won't eat green potato chips either not because I'm afraid of being poisoned but just because they don't taste good.

Ann

Bobby, it is just short of amazing,
that you've not seen a green potato before now.
It's often hard to find any that DON'T have green, here.

"But potatoes belong to the nightshade family, Solanaceae, as are tomatoes, petunias, eggplant, nicotine, sweet and hot peppers, datura, and the alkaloids in them can range from mildly to extremely toxic."

Yes, and different people have different levels of sensitivity to them.
I find that eating tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, & peppers
really intensifies Arthritis pain.
And if I eat a potato that has green on it,
it is even worse.

Like some others here,
I definitely do NOT eat potato chips that are green,
or partially green.
And I cut green off of potatoes when cooking, too.

In fact, I eat very little of any of the Nightshade family.
For the most part, it just isn't worth it!
Yet I know of others who aren't bothered by them at all.

Go figure.

Rusty