General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A question: When Pot is legal nationwide... [View all]Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)But when their skin goes green due to light exposure, they're not healthy to eat, because then they're producing the solanine found in the rest of the plant - and other members of the nightshade family. In the case of the potato the toxins aren't very concentrated, and you'd have to eat a good amount of raw green potatoes (cooking destroys the alkaloids) to suffer effects - stomach cramping, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision. In wild potato species, and some andean varieties, large exposure can cause death (which is part of why powdered clay is used as a condiment by the andeans who eat the things - the silicates bond with the alkaloids in the potato and neutralize it.)
Raw tubers that aren't sunstruck have negligible amounds of solanine and are perfectly fine to eat.
- Scootaloo, professional chef, experienced gardener, and occasional student of herbal medicine and ethnobotany