I am no where near domesticated and I credit what I do know about cooking and cleaning to my mother. When I moved out of the house and started cooking, the first thing my mother told me was to immediatly throw away and garlic, onion or potatoes that start to sprout. I was told that it is poisonous. This confuses me, how could something poisonous grow out of something not poisonous? I am not about to chop any of these things up and eat them… but I do throw away alot of onion, garlic and potato. Am I wasting food by doing this? And are the sprouts really poisonous?
Anecdotal evidence here, so don’t sue me if it kills you. I’m a cheap bastard and I don’t care if what I’m cooking with has sprouted leaves or fingers (I draw the line at visible mold, however). I seem to be doing quite fine after having employed a great deal of sprouted onions & garlic. I do recommend knocking the rootlets of the taters, however. Some nasty hallucinogenic alkaloids in those things–not to be truffled with!
The master speaks. About potatos at least.
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055b.html
As for garlic, it seems the main ingredient in the green sprout is allicin, and it doesn’t sound too poisonous. Just bitter.
from http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/medicine/alternative-healthcare/faqs/FAQ:-Garlic
Some real doctors speak on the subject of green potatos.
It’s way too hard for me to understand, but it looks like they can occasionally be real nasty.