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What to do if potatoes turn green: peel and eat or leave for planting
03.01.2023 12:02
Updated: 13.04.2023 05:58
Storing potatoes is accompanied by two troubles: freezing of tubers or their greening.
The main reason for the latter circumstance is sunlight, due to which chlorophyll enters into a chemical reaction, which results in a change in the color of the tubers.
It also happens that potatoes are dug up green, and all because they were not covered well enough by soil and were exposed to sunlight.
After harvesting, potatoes may turn green if storage conditions are violated, i.e. when direct sunlight falls on the supplies through possible cracks.
But artificial lighting does not lead to such consequences.
Can you eat green potatoes
If a small amount of green potatoes up to 0.05% accidentally gets into the body, then nothing terrible will happen. But in general, green potatoes are considered dangerous to health, especially in the presence of concomitant diseases.
Solanine poisoning can cause nausea and vomiting, stomach pain and heaviness, digestive upset, high fever, and even seizures or coma.
Therefore, the green peel is cut off at least 1 cm deep.
What to do with green potatoes
If your instinct for self-preservation prevents you from eating green potatoes, then it’s too early to throw them away.
Such fruits can be used for planting. Green potatoes are more resistant to fungal infection, pests, they sprout faster, yield 1-2 weeks earlier and the yield will increase by about 20%.
