A few years ago when I was working in a grocery store, one of the produce fellas would constantly talk about how poisonous green potatoes were. He would compulsively cull the potato bin of green potatoes in fear that customers would accidentally picked one and get sick. He was baffled that no one else was as worried about the looming danger of bad potatoes as he was.
I figured he was over exaggerating…but it did spark an interest.
Why Do Potatoes Turn Green?
Turns out the green color that the potato turns is due to chlorophyll. Exposing potatoes to light produces harmless chlorophyll, but it also produces alkaloids solanine and chaconine, which are typically toxic if ingested in high amounts. These alkaloids are produced by the plant as a defence mechanism against insects, disease, and animals during the potatoes time of growth. It produces toxic compounds when it is given the perfect growing environment to increase chances of the plant producing fruit and replicating.
However, humans are generally smarter than plants and have noticed that these potentially toxic alkaloids will make the potato bitter on the green potations of the potato. So if you grab a somewhat green potato from your kitchen, take extra care to peel away the green portions, and if the potato is green in the center and is bitter, toss it.
Can you actually die from eating green potatoes?
There are some reported stories of people having solanine poisoning by potatoes gone bad. The reported symptoms are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes partial paralysis or temporary loss of nervous function. Symptoms last from a few days to a few weeks, but the majority of people recover. Again, if there is an alarmingly green potato in your pantry, better play it safe and toss it.
Since the alkaloid compounds are created to deter animals from eating the plant…I would assume that once a human ate some overly bitter potato, they would lose their appetite pretty quickly and would not over consume the potentially poisonous tuber. But then again, some people are desperate for food!
