The only consolation after a difficult week is that little bag of potatoes in the pantry. Soon youll transform them into some truly delicious french fries. But what happens when you take out that bag of potatoes and discover bright green spots on them? Have your hopes of making french fries already been crushed?
We explain the science behind why potatoes turn green and offer advice on how to continue to safely enjoy your favorite potato dishes. Read about the red substance on lettuce, the orange pith, and what to do when baby carrots get a white cast to learn more about food safety.
In the presence of direct sunlight, potatoes will inadvertently begin to turn green. Chlorophyll, a word you probably haven’t heard since science class in middle school, is what gives the color green. The compound that gives plants their green color, chlorophyll, is safe.
Chlorophyll is necessary for photosynthesis, which is how plants make their own food. In potatoes, exposure to sunlight accelerates the production of chlorophyll. Because of this, it’s crucial to keep them in a dark location.
Is Peeling or Boiling Green Potatoes Effective?
Solanine levels are highest in the skin of a potato. Because of this, peeling a green potato will significantly lower its levels of
Studies have estimated that peeling a potato at home removes at least 30% of its toxic plant compounds. However, that still leaves up to 70% of the compounds in the flesh (4).
Therefore, in potatoes with extremely high solanine concentrations, the peeled potato may still have toxic levels.
Unfortunately, boiling and other cooking methods, including baking, microwaving or frying, do not significantly reduce solanine levels. Thus, they won’t make green potatoes any safer to eat (9).
You can either cut out the green spots or peel the potato if it only has a few tiny ones. Since a potato’s eyes or sprouts contain higher levels of solanine production, they should also be eliminated.
However, if the potato is very green or tastes bitter (a sign of solanine), it’s best to throw it away (10).
Did you know that Frito-Lay alone sells somewhere around $2. There’s a reason they’re regarded as the best potato chips in the nation: they sell 6 billion pounds of potato chips annually. When you combine all of our favorite potato chips, you might be able to understand why Americans consume more chips than any other nation in the world. There’s no denying that everyone enjoys a bag of salty, crunchy chips, but the possibility of discovering green potato chips in your bag is always present. So, whats up with that?.
If you enjoy the challenge of discovering a green potato chip concealed in the bag, you’ve probably eaten plenty of the unusual chip color. However, if you haven’t wondered why some chips are actually green or if it’s even safe to eat them, you should probably take a moment to do so. The cause of the unexpected hue may influence the type of potatoes you choose to cook or even how you prepare them in your own kitchen.
Therefore, if you ever find green potato chips in your bag, just know that they were simply produced using potatoes that had a little too much light shined on them. If you ever find any, it’s totally fine to eat a green potato chip, just don’t sit down with the entire bag.
In storage, potatoes that have been exposed to (too much) light frequently turn green, claims Mental Floss. Thus, the reason why potato chips turned green was that they were made from a potato that had been exposed to light. However, just because there are a few green potato chips in the bag doesn’t mean you should consume a lot of them. It turns out that the green parts of chips and potatoes are unhealthy.
While it is perfectly safe to eat one or two green potato chips, eating too much of a green potato, be it as chips or another form, can be really bad for you. Those green spots are actually places where solanine, a neurotoxin, has formed, according to Medical News Today. That means anyone who ingests too much of the toxin runs the risk of becoming nauseous or experiencing headaches.