Contents
Potato is a root crop, without which it is difficult to imagine many cuisines of the world. Every house has potatoes. Most gardeners grow it on their plot. This food product grows quickly, is stored for a long time, is not capricious and is very inexpensive for the average citizen of the country. Surely you have watched the potatoes turn green more than once.
Why do potatoes turn green during storage? How to prevent potatoes from turning green? And can a green root crop be eaten? This will be discussed in this article.
Causes of green color on tubers
Under the influence of sunlight, certain chemical reactions occur, as a result of which potato tubers turn green. Potatoes contain chlorophyll under the skin. 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 found in all plants and in the light, in the process of chemical reactions, a green color is obtained. In some cases, the leaves turn purple as a result of this process. Initially, the tubers are not green just because the sun’s rays do not penetrate the soil.
Now you know why potatoes turn green and why store this root crop in a dark place protected from sunlight. However, it is worth dealing with another important issue related to this topic – is it possible to eat potatoes that have acquired a green color.
Poison in a pot or why green potatoes are life-threatening
Surely everyone knows that potatoes are a plant from the nightshade family. All nightshade contains the strongest poison – solanine. Photosynthesis contributes to the production of poison in potatoes.
Also, this substance is found in fruit boxes 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 contributes to the destruction of red blood cells. Solanine leads to fever, dehydration and seizures. An organism weakened by diseases may not cope with the poison and die.
According to studies conducted in Austria, those potatoes are considered life-threatening, 100 g of which contains up to 40 milligrams of solanine. When digging out of the ground, up to 10 milligrams of this substance is usually present in potatoes, but by spring, its amount can triple if stored improperly.
According to the FBI, many terrorist textbooks that were seized in Afghanistan described the spectrum of action of solanine as a means of mass destruction. Those books describe how to get the poison. So, you can kill a person with an ordinary potato.
How to identify poisoning
There are several signs that indicate solanine poisoning:
- Nausea.
- Mucosal irritation.
- Heaviness in the stomach.
- Vomiting.
- Arrhythmic, uneven pulse.
To help the victim, the first thing to do is to wash his stomach, give a laxative, make an enema, drip cordiamin and let him drink strong cold coffee and tea.
Safety measures
So that the potato does not turn green, it should be properly stored after digging it out of the ground. These should be light-tight bags, but in no case rope nets and plastic bags.
If you store potatoes on the balcony, then immediately remove them from there. The balcony is very poorly protected from sunlight. It is better to buy this product in small portions and store it in the refrigerator in a plastic bag, which will prevent the tubers from wilting. The packaging must be leakproof. Before heat treatment, peel the vegetable from the skin, cutting off the skin with a thick layer, as solanine accumulates in it. Green potatoes should be discarded immediately.
We invite you to watch a video that shows what affects the safety of potato tubers:
