Potatoes are also regularly on your menu? Then you should be careful when buying and preparing, because the consumption of some tubers can be dangerous. Learn when to stop eating potatoes.
Jacket potatoes, fried potatoes, potato wedges – we Germans eat around 57.7 kg of potatoes every year. In short: the potato is an integral part of our menu. And that’s a good thing, because it is an optimal source of carbohydrates, as it contains various important vitamins and nutrients. For example, potatoes are rich in potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B. But what many people don’t know is that eating potatoes can also be harmful to your health.
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Danger of poisoning with potatoes
Various types of vegetables , including potatoes, contain the toxic substance solanine. This occurs mainly in unripe or green potatoes. The highest concentration of solanine is found in the skin and sprouts of the potato. For this reason, you should take a close look at sprouting potatoes before preparing them.
Even small amounts of solanine can lead to symptoms of poisoning . Symptoms of such poisoning include abdominal pain, abdominal cramps, headache, and diarrhea.
Which potatoes are still edible and which are not?
According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment , old, dried-up, green or heavily sprouting potatoes should no longer be eaten. The peel should only be eaten with fresh potatoes. You should also generously cut away green areas and germs. However, once the sprouts have reached a certain size, cutting them away is no longer of any use, since the solanine spreads throughout the potato over time. Even if the potatoes taste bitter, they are no longer suitable for consumption.
Important: Solanine can survive up to a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius, so it is usually not destroyed by cooking or baking.
