Green potatoes

[burnie]

Monty has just said on the Beeb to remove the green bit of a tattie that has been exposed to the light, now I was always told to throw the whole tattie away, not just remove the green bit as the toxins could spread through the tuber, what do you do?

[MelanieSW]

I just cut the green bits off, provided there's enough potato left afterwards.

[Nicos]

I cut off the green bit and anything next to it that is slightly tinged if it’s just a small area.
Mostly green I compost.

When I was pregnant a few hundred years ago I picked up a bag of spuds which had been reduced and the lady at the till refused to sell them too me explaining they would be dangerous for me as they were green.
I never questioned why but I’d never offer a pregnant person one.

I’d like to understand quite why but I guess it’s something to do with them being part of the Bella Donna family??

[ameno]

It depends how green it is. If it's just a little green, I simply cut the green off. If it's very green, I crush it and compost it (if you put it on the heap whole it will just grow).

The toxicity comes from solanine, which is an alkaloid found in many plants in the nightshade family, including in the leaves of potatoes and tomatoes, and in potato fruit. The green pigment itself is not toxic (it's just chlorophyll), but solanine levels increase in response to light exposure, just as the tuber also goes green in response to light exposure, in an attempt to prevent animals and insects from eating any exposed tubers. Solanine levels in the surrounding, non-green flesh can sometimes be somewhat increased, but the dangerous levels are usually most strongly associated with the green bits (as they are the bits which were exposed to the light).
It should also be noted that solanine is very bitter, so you can usually tell by the taste whether or not there are worrying levels of it in the potato or not (especially if you chew on a small piece raw to test it first).

[Bren In Pots]

I'm another that cuts of the green if its just a small area.