Potatoes are eaten by a lot of people all around the world. People all over the world use them in their kitchens since they are quite useful and simple to use. You may use them to make anything from ordinary mashed potatoes to fries that are crispy. Many people use them all the time because they are easy to grow, cheap, and last a long time. Potatoes are one of the safest and most frequent things in your kitchen, but not many people know that they can be bad for your health in some instances.
Potatoes start to sprout when they get older, especially if they aren’t stored properly. These sprouts arise from the little “eyes” on the surface of the tuber. They might not seem scary or even real. This happens a lot, and it’s not a good thing. Potatoes go through chemical changes as they grow that could make the flesh of the crop dangerous to eat. A lot of people don’t know that these sprouted potatoes can have a poison in them called solanine, which is dangerous for people even in small amounts.
Solanine, a kind of glycoalkaloid, is found in all nightshades, including tomatoes and eggplants. When potatoes are in the light, get hurt, or are kept for a long time, they create a lot more solanine. The material keeps bugs, predators, and disease from getting to the plant. This chemical is great for things outside, but not for cooking. The potato’s green patches, sprouts, and thin layer just below the surface are probably where the most solanine is.
On the other side, solanine can handle heat, so cooking won’t kill it. The toxin won’t go away if you boil, fry, or bake a potato that has sprouted. Peeling might lessen the concentration a little, but it usually doesn’t go deep enough to get rid of the danger completely, especially if the potato has turned green or the sprouts are fully formed. Even modest doses of solanine can make you sick, especially if you are already weak.
The symptoms of solanine poisoning can be moderate or quite acute. Some of the first indicators that usually show up a few hours after consuming something are nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. Some people might also experience a fever, headaches, or a burning feeling in their throat. They might also feel dizzy. People who eat a lot may have problems with their brains, such as disorientation, seeing things that aren’t there, a slow heart rate, and very occasionally, seizures or other problems. Even though solanine poisoning doesn’t kill individuals very often, there are medical articles about it.
Solanine is exceedingly bad for kids, pregnant women, older folks, and anyone else whose immune system isn’t very strong. Their bodies tend to absorb and respond to poisons more quickly, so even little quantities of exposure can be more dangerous for them. Some people can get quite sick with only a few bites of infected potatoes and need to go to the doctor.
It’s not always easy to detect if a potato is safe to eat because solanine doesn’t have a strong taste or smell. There are, however, some distinct signs that you should pay attention to. It’s best to toss away a potato that has started to sprout, looks shriveled or mushy, has green spots on the skin, or smells bad. It might not be enough to only take off the sprouts and green parts of the potato to see if it is safe. If you’re not sure, it’s always better to be safe and throw things away.
The first thing you need to do to fix the problem is put things away the appropriate way. Potatoes do best in a cold, dark, dry, and well-ventilated place. The levels of chlorophyll and solanine go up when there is light, like sunlight or strong kitchen lights. The green color of the skin comes from solanine. You should never put potatoes in the fridge. When starches get cold, they can transform into sugars. This affects the taste and makes it more probable that dangerous compounds will occur when you cook them at a high temperature.
Don’t use plastic containers since they trap moisture and let food spoil faster. Use mesh baskets or paper bags that let air through instead. Check on your potatoes every so often and use the older ones first so they don’t go bad. Take it out straight away if you spot one starting to bloom or go soft so it doesn’t spread to other plants nearby.
It’s tempting to cut off the parts that are growing and use the rest, especially to cut down on food waste, but the health risks of solanine aren’t worth it, especially for families with kids or elderly people. The outcomes could be anything from mild pain to a serious illness.
Potatoes are a common food, but you need to take care of them like you would any other food that goes bad. You may protect yourself and your loved ones from a health danger that is easy to identify by studying how sprouting changes the chemicals in plants and how to spot warning signs. When you go to get the potato you forgot about at the bottom of the pantry, pay special attention to it. It might look safe on the outside, but what’s within might not be.
