Stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea – these are some of the symptoms of green potatoes.
But you don’t have to throw away the poisonous tuber, says Sabina Litens Karlsson from the Swedish Food Agency:
– The green color is not the poison itself, it is a sign that it is not well.
Herring and potatoes are part of midsummer, but there are ingredients you should be extra careful with when it comes to midsummer food. Green potatoes are an example.
Because you can actually get really sick.
– You can get sick to your stomach and get really unpleasant symptoms. You can get a stomach ache, vomit and get diarrhoea, says Sabina Litens Karlsson, toxicologist and nutritionist from the Swedish Food Agency.
But the green color is not the only sign of a sick potato. If it has been mechanically damaged, cut or crushed, it also secretes the poison.
Avoid illness
– If you ingest enough of the poison, you can get sick. It is impossible to say how much because it differs from potato to potato, and person to person. But if you follow our advice, no one should have to get sick.
Because you don’t have to throw away a damaged or green potato. As long as the ugly parts are cut off, by a wide margin, the potato is edible.
Children are extra sensitive. The potato naturally has some of the toxic substances in the skin. Therefore, you should always peel the potatoes for small children, then you remove up to 75 percent of the bad substances.
How to store potatoes
Just like for humans, the potato can turn sour if it gets stressed. What makes the root vegetable stressed is direct sunlight and strong lighting.
– It is a very sensitive tuber, it likes to lie in the dark. If it gets light, it becomes stressed and as a defense it secretes a natural poison called glycoalkaloids.
The Swedish Food Agency’s advice on potatoes:
Do not eat potatoes that are green or damaged
If only part of the potato is green or damaged – cut off that part with plenty of margin. But if the potato is green through and through or severely damaged, don’t eat it at all.
All potatoes contain some glycoalkaloids and most are found closest to the skin. Therefore, young children who are sensitive should always eat peeled potatoes.
Store potatoes in the dark.