Can I still eat potatoes if their skin turns green?

Potatoes are a very familiar vegetable to everyone, but few people know about potatoes. In fact, potatoes are potatoes, but the names vary in different regions. There are many varieties of it. The most common potatoes we see have yellow skin. If its color changes to green, it means it cannot be eaten. Otherwise, it will cause food poisoning. It is best to throw it away directly to avoid bad consequences.

The greening of potato skin is something we often see in our daily lives. If the potato skin turns green, it is often a sign that the potato has sprouted. Because the potato skin has sprouted or the potato skin has sprouted, a large amount of toxins will be produced, especially substances such as solanine, which often easily cause food poisoning. In addition, it is best not to eat fresh potato peels, because the potato peels contain a lot of alkali. Even after cooking, and then peeling them thinly, it is not allowed, because the alkali often penetrates into the potatoes through cooking, causing diarrhea, abdominal pain and other symptoms after eating, and it is also easy to cause moderate.

If the potato skin starts to turn green, it is recommended that you do not eat this potato. Because if you vomit until you have to use force, it means that the potato is about to sprout. Sprouted potatoes can be used as seeds, but they must not be used because they contain a large amount of toxins and may cause poisoning if consumed.

Potatoes contain a toxin called solanine. Every 100 grams contains about 10 mg of solanine, which will not cause poisoning after people eat it. But when potatoes sprout or change color, the solanine content increases significantly, containing more than 500 mg of solanine per 100 grams, which is 50 times the normal amount. Solanine is a weakly reducing glycoside substance, which can easily cause poisoning after ingestion. Solanine is corrosive and irritating to human mucous membranes, has a paralyzing effect on the central nervous system, can destroy red blood cells in the blood, and even cause congestion and edema of brain tissue.

Additional information

Things to note when buying potatoes

Generally speaking, potatoes with very few sprouts are still edible if you thoroughly dig out the sprouts and the parts around the eyes and remove the green parts. If the potato turns green over a large area and has many sprouted parts, it should be thrown away. It is best to soak the potatoes in water for a while after cutting them, and add some vinegar when cooking, which can avoid poisoning.

He Li, director of the Science and Technology Department of the Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, also taught everyone three methods to identify refurbished old potatoes: first, look at the holes, be careful with potatoes with deep holes; second, pinch the flesh, don't buy hard potatoes; third, rub the skin, potatoes that don't peel off are also more dangerous.

It seems that when buying potatoes, it is best not to buy green potatoes, and when storing potatoes, be sure to keep them away from light. Because everyone's physical constitution is different, if the potatoes at home turn green and you are really not sure, it is better to throw them away.