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Potatoes are a root vegetable without which it is difficult to imagine many cuisines around the world. Every house has potatoes. Most gardeners grow it on their plot. This food product grows quickly, has a long shelf life, is not fussy and is very inexpensive for the average resident of the country. You've probably seen potatoes turn green more than once.
Why do potatoes turn green during storage? How to prevent potatoes from turning green? And can the green root vegetable be eaten? This will be discussed in this article.
Reasons for the appearance of green color on tubers
When exposed to sunlight, certain chemical reactions occur, causing potato tubers to turn green. Potato skin contains chlorophyll. The fact is that under certain conditions, under the influence of ultraviolet and infrared radiation, the process of photosynthesis starts in potato tubers.
Chlorophyll is present in all plants and when exposed to light, chemical reactions produce a green color. In some cases, the leaves turn purple as a result of this process. Initially, the tubers are not green only because the sun's rays do not penetrate into the soil.
Now you know why potatoes turn green and why store this root vegetable in a dark place protected from sunlight. However, it is worth dealing with another important question related to this topic - is it possible to eat potatoes that have turned green.
Poison in the pan or why green potatoes are life-threatening
Surely everyone knows that potatoes are a plant from the nightshade family. All nightshades contain the strongest poison - solanine. Photosynthesis promotes the production of poison in potatoes.
This substance is also found in fruit capsules and foliage. They contain much more solanine than tubers.
Green potatoes contain a large amount of solanine. Why is this poison dangerous? Firstly, it depresses the brain or central nervous system, and, secondly, it promotes the destruction of red blood cells in the blood. Solanine leads to fever, dehydration and seizures. The body, weakened by disease, may not be able to cope with the poison and die.
According to studies conducted in Austria, potatoes that contain up to 40 milligrams of solanine per 100 g are considered life-threatening. When dug out of the ground, potatoes usually contain up to 10 milligrams of this substance, but by spring its amount can triple if stored improperly.
According to the FBI, many terrorist textbooks that were seized in Afghanistan describe the spectrum of solanine as a means of mass destruction.Those books describe ways to obtain poison. So, you can kill a person using ordinary potatoes.
How to determine poisoning
There are several signs indicating solanine poisoning:
- Nausea.
- Irritation of the mucous membrane.
- Heaviness in the stomach.
- Vomit.
- Arrhythmic, uneven pulse.
To help the victim, the first step is to rinse his stomach, give him a laxative, give him an enema, drip Cordiamine and give him strong cold coffee or tea to drink.
Precautionary measures
To prevent potatoes from turning green, they should be stored properly after digging them out of the ground. These should be light-proof bags, but in no case rope nets or plastic bags.
If you store potatoes on the balcony, remove them from there immediately. The balcony is very poorly protected from sunlight. It is better to purchase this product in small portions and store it in the refrigerator in a plastic bag, which will prevent the tubers from withering. The packaging must not be airtight. Before heat treatment, peel the vegetable, cutting off the skin in a thick layer, as solanine accumulates in it. Green potatoes should be thrown away immediately.
We invite you to watch a video that shows what affects the safety of potato tubers:
