Toxic or not: can you eat green potatoes?

Potatoes taste good cooked, fried, baked, grilled, mashed or mashed. The favorite tubers contain valuable vitamins and minerals and are considered healthy. Are green potatoes also edible or are they poisonous?

potatoes

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) belong to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). While the tubers of the potato plant are commonly referred to as potatoes, the names Erdapfel or Erdbirne are also common in some regions.
Even if you learn as a child that raw potatoes are poisonous, everyone has probably tasted a piece of a raw tuber at some point. They taste unpleasantly bitter, so that nobody would voluntarily consume a lot of them. The high starch content makes the potatoes floury. This is not for everyone.

The reasons for warning against green potatoes lie in the ingredients. Like other nightshades, raw potatoes contain poisonous alkaloids. They are formed by the plant to protect against predators. In potatoes, the alkaloid solanine is particularly crucial for symptoms of poisoning that can occur about four to six hours after consuming large quantities of raw potatoes:

• nausea
• Vomit
• diarrhea
• Stomach cramps
• Breathing problems
• headache
• cramps
• Scratchy throat

Note: Heating the potatoes reduces the solanine content. Cooking, roasting, baking or grilling transforms inedible raw potatoes into tasty, healthy tubers.

Green potatoes

Be careful with green areas, as they contain a particularly large amount of the poisonous solanine. On average, 100 grams of green potatoes contain 35 milligrams of solanine. Green potatoes cannot ripen like apples or pears.
Cut away small green areas generously. Potatoes that are completely green in color are unhealthy and should not be eaten. Green potatoes are so high in solanine that just heating them up is not enough!

Attention: Some of the water-soluble solanine ends up in the cooking water when it is boiled. Do not continue to use the water from boiled potatoes.

Potato juice: very healthy in small amounts

While the consumption of green potatoes is not recommended, the juice of raw potatoes has a health-promoting effect. How can that be?
More than 100 years ago, the Swiss doctor Max Bircher-Benner discovered the healing properties of freshly squeezed potato juice, which is recommended for the relief of stomach ailments. The juice from freshly squeezed potatoes can help with heartburn, bloating and stomach pains. You should not drink more than 100 milliliters a day.
Note: Potato juice is made from peeled raw potatoes. Use fresh tubers that are free from sprouts and green spots. Remove the peel generously. Only prepare the juice fresh in small portions. Alternatively, you can buy potato juice in health food stores.

Factors Affecting Raw Potato Toxicity:

• variety
  The solanine content of individual varieties differs. In recent years, new varieties with lower solanine values ​​have come onto the market.
• Growing conditions
  The solanine content of raw potatoes can increase due to the weather, for example due to long periods of frost.
• light
  Light affects the formation of green spots and an increase in the solanine content.
• Injuries
  Mechanical injuries when excavating or transporting the tubers can cause an increase in the solanine content.
• storage
  For potatoes, storage in a dry, dark place at a temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius is recommended. Warmer or colder temperatures can increase solanine levels.

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