You’ve just returned from the grocery store, and guess what? The inside of the potatoes you purchased is green. These potatoes — are they still good?
Inside some potatoes is green. When potatoes are exposed to sunlight before being harvested, this occurs. It’s not necessary harmful to eat a green potato. Remove the bitter portions and boil the remaining food if necessary. True green potatoes are rather uncommon.
Learn why certain potatoes have green interiors and how they taste in this article. Eat green potatoes or not? Can you make the potatoes return to normal once more?
Table of Contents
Why are Some Potatoes Green Inside?
Your potatoes turning green may be primarily attributable to sunshine exposure. While potatoes, like all other vegetables, need sunshine to develop, too much of it may have negative effects, one of which being potatoes that turn green from the inside, according to Penn State Extension.
The potatoes produce chlorophyll and solanine in response to too much sunshine or other light.
Solanine is often present in all varieties of potatoes, most likely towards the skin. Solanine is a flavorless, non-lethal toxin with an acidic or tart taste. It has the potential to impair digestion and, in large doses, to cause numbness.
Potatoes are not adversely affected by solanine until there is an excess. To avoid the solanine-related side effects, you should remove those tiny green patches right away.
But if it doesn’t help, you might want to get rid of those potatoes.
Furthermore, stay away from eating the potatoes if their flavor is still off. Whether you remove the green spots or not is immaterial.
Although green potatoes are not very good for your children, their body’s ability to process solanine is not very strong.
What to Do With Green Potatoes?
When it comes to recycling unwanted green potatoes, there aren’t many options. If properly prepared, you can still use it.
Remove the green parts and cook
Depending on how much of the potato has turned green, getting rid of the green bits may not be as easy. To peel the potato without taking off too much, use a peeling knife.
Additionally, the solanine’s effects will be neutralized by the intense heat used to cook the potato, making it safe to consume.
Add the Green Potatoes to a Compost
Composting is an excellent alternative to consider if you are unsure about the effects of solanine because it will reuse the potato and recover the nutrients from it.
The bacteria population in the compost and the green potato will not be harmed by the green potato.
Replant the Potato
Regrowing green potatoes gives you a second chance to make sure they emerge from the soil how you want them to. This is a simple approach to reuse green potatoes.
The video below below demonstrates how to do this.
Are Green Potatoes Safe to Eat?
If you’re looking for a short, simple response, then NO! If you’re curious as to why? Let’s together research this.
Due to the formation of solanine and chlorophyll, potatoes that were exposed to direct sunshine or any kind of light have already started to deteriorate.
You can snip off the teeny green patch and eat the potato if it hasn’t become overly densely green.
But these days, that’s a very uncommon occurrence; many of the potatoes we see in the supermarkets have already turned a dangerous shade of green, albeit not always. They can be extremely hazardous to your or your children’s digestive systems if consumed.
However, you shouldn’t worry because it takes more than one poisonous potato to actually harm you.
What does Potatoes with Green Inside Taste Like?
the flavor? Due to the high solanine content, potatoes with a green interior might taste bitter. You might be asking why we keep referring to solanine as “solanine.”
That’s because it is more to blame than any other component for coloring the inside of the potato green.
How much is too much, then? It depends, would be the truthful response. Your body tolerance and size play a role in this.
It makes no sense to test it on oneself, does it? Studies have indicated that ingesting 2 milligrams per kilogram of your weight, though this figure can vary from person to person, is enough to cause problems.
Potential Symptoms from Eating Green Potatoes:
For solanine to be hazardous, it needs to make up 10% of the bodyweight.
If the potato is exposed to sunlight for an extended period of time, this effect may intensify.
We’re talking about the side effects of eating green potatoes, which include fever, headaches, stomach pain, and a peculiar cold.
Additionally, eating potatoes with green interiors may result in nausea, wheezing, and a slower heartbeat. If you are having these problems after inadvertently eating the greener potatoes, you should seek medical attention right once.
Peeling the Potato to Reduce Solanine:
Will the solanine level drop if the potato is peeled? It will, indeed. Peeling the potato does reduce the danger of solanine toxicity because the solanine is typically present on the potato’s upper surface.
According to studies, peeling fresh potatoes removes 30% of the harmful substances, but what about the other 70%?
The remaining 30% of the potato is in the flesh, thus even after peeling the potato, problems may still arise.
Why don’t we cook these dangerous potatoes? either bake them? or cook them? No! That won’t change anything, unfortunately. You should choose how to proceed based on the color.
How to Prevent Potatoes from Turning Green
Good planting techniques are the first step in preventing potatoes from becoming green.
For cultivating potatoes, the following methods work best:
- Potatoes need soil that is deep, loose, well-drained, and free of rocks.
- They require direct sun.
- Plant tubers after a major frost threat has passed.
- Plant them 10 to 12 inches apart, 2 to 3 inches deep, and with their eyes upward.
- Plant in 2 foot-distance rows.
You should make sure that potatoes are planted so that they are not exposed to sunlight during the growing phase because sunlight is the main cause of potatoes becoming green.
Try planting your harvested potatoes a little deeper than 3 inches if you see that they are coming out green.
Furthermore, you can stop sunlight from reaching potatoes that have already been sowed by piling more soil on top of them.
Growing crops in the shadow can also help reduce the formation of chlorophyll and the green color that sunshine gives to potatoes.
Storing Potatoes To Prevent them from Going Green:
The simplest course of action would be to keep potatoes out of direct sunlight since, as you are aware, sunlight causes the inside of the potatoes to turn green.
There are numerous ways to stop potatoes from becoming green.
Highly suggested techniques are:
- To provide them a cold and gloomy habitat, try placing them in the basement of the house.
- The ideal cold ranges from 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Keep appliances like refrigerators and other electronic devices that produce heat far away from the potatoes.
Always cover the potatoes with earth to ensure that they don’t interact in any way with the light.
How Long Can you Store Potatoes?
Although potatoes often last a long time, how long exactly? When will they inevitably begin to deteriorate or turn green inside?
Depending on how well they are stored, potatoes can spoil sooner or later depending on the circumstances.
Similar to how raw potatoes begin to rot after a week to a month, cooler environments lengthen their fresh lifetime.
Even while cooked potatoes can be stored for over a year in the freezer and for 4 days in the fridge, the quality will undoubtedly suffer.
Consequently, you can keep potatoes for a maximum of over a year using suitable techniques before they start to turn green and become unusable.
Can Green Potato Turn Normal Color?
The green potatoes can’t be made normal, which is unfortunate. One thing, though, you should be aware of: Solanine, not the color green, is the issue. As you are all aware, peeling the potato is an easy way to lower the solanine content.
However, that method only works for little green patches. The best course of action is to discard the potato if it has grown larger and deeper or turned a dense green color.
The Takeaway
In the end, everything is up to you. You must first use caution when purchasing potatoes. However, if you accidentally purchased green potatoes. To get the most out of those potatoes, carefully adhere to the directions above.
Additionally, keeping potatoes will help keep them fresh longer and prevent them from becoming green inside. For the finest outcomes, though, the expert advice must be heeded.
It’s bad to eat green potatoes. But even if you accidentally eat one potato, it won’t cause much harm because a single potato has a very low solanine content. Breathe easily. Nothing major happens. Thanks.