potatoes that have started "sprouting", do you use them?

[alibo]

seem to remember hearing/reading somewhere that when potatoes start sprouting, they produce harmful substances. have i imagined this??

i thought it was if they had a green tinge?

I still use them. I thought it was if they go green then they could be dodgy.

Yes I do. Cut off the sprouting bits.

I use them

Yes I do, just cut them off, if they are going green then no.

I do if I need an extra spud to do the chips

alibo is it you with the overnight pork casserole too? You're such a minger
FWIW I am too. would use the casserole and also use sprouty potatoes.

yes i use them but wouldnt eat cassarole

yes of course. Green bits I cut out but frankly I'm sure I've eaten them too in my time.

I have never heard that before. I have always used "sprouting" potatoes - I just cut the sprouty bits off!

I use them if they are sprouting or going green, I just chop the offending bits off. Is this dangerous?

I've used them as long as they aren't going soft - only chuck them out if green or soft. Just pull the sprouty bits off!

Sometimes I don't even bother shopping the bits off! I do tend to make baked potatoes rather than anything so the insides are just scooped out but still... is this another scaremongering thingy?

chopping!

alibo, i think i started a thread like this a few months ago and i'm sure someone told me about the harmful substances. however, as far as people have told me since, you can cut the sprouting bits off aslong as the spud isn't green.i think, anyway!

ok then, think i'll just well and truly finish myself off and scoff the bacteria-ridden casserole with a sprouting potatoe tonight!! LOL Clary!, suppose these two threads together does sound a bit dodgy!? i'm not a minger-honest! in fact, thinking about things, i think its because you see so much on tv, internet these days etc, " x,y and z is harmful to health" etc it does make you slightly paranoid. my gran would laugh at all this, and she would say "in her day they would eat every last bit of veg, going green or not, and the casserole if it had been there 2 nights!!" -And it never did her any harm LOL!

Yep - I'd use them - in fact I do, regularly. If they're going a bit soft, then I make soup with them along with my limpish celery, carrots and parsnips, yellowing leeks and possibly an apple which ds2 (2) has sunk his teeth into once and no-one will touch. Cut offensive bits off, add a pint or two of water and a stock cube, boil and simmer for 30 mins, then liquidise. Amazing what you can do with otherwise unuseable veg!! (Minger alert!!!)

Still use them if going green - just cut teh green bits off.

I just cut the sprouts off!

Potatoes can be poisonous if eaten when green or sprouting. Plants in the otato family - the Solanaceae - included deadly Nighshade. They contain toxic alkaloids similar to the drug atropine.

IIRC the toxic substances build up over time so you'd be unlucky to eat a sprouting potato that contained enough alkaloids to make you really ill. If you wanted to test this out, you could leave a sprouting potato for months, eat it, and see whether you were still alive at the end of the experiment... wouldn't reccomend it, though!

I use them, just cut the bits off. Our potatoes always sprout despite keeping them in a terracotta jar in a cool, dark cupboard.
Whats the secret to stopping them from sprouting? Anyone know?

try\link{http://www.potatoresearch.com/discussion/ubb/Forum22/HTML/000031.html\this

b*m, how the heck do I do a link!

try\link{http://www.potatoresearch.com/discussion/ubb/Forum22/HTML/000031.html\this}

Yup, we use sprouting and green spuds with the offending bits cut off. No side effects as of yet.