However, when potato tubers turn green there is usually an increase in a glycoalkoloid compound called solanine. Consequently, it is important to store potatoes in the absence of light to prevent greening. Tubers with a high concentration of solanine will taste bitter, and can be harmful if eaten in large quantities. To be safe, it is best to not eat the green part of tubers." You do not need to discard green potatoes. Just peel the skins, shoots and any green color; that is where the solanines concentrate.
I’ll knock off the sprouts if they’re small and not too many, and use the potatoes like normal. Look for green in the skin and maybe discard. My real test is squeezing them - any rubbery ones I reject and throw in the composter, no matter what the sprout or green in the skin situation is. When in doubt, throw it out.
I recently came into a bag of russetts that I know I’ll not be able to get thru before they spoil. I found online it’s possible to freeze them for later use: How to Freeze Potatoes. So far I’ve prepred and frozen some steak fries and plan to try them in the air fryer.
I’ve been knocking sprouts off for 50 years with no I’ll effects, however potatoes are cheap so you can toss them out and by fresh ones if you’re nervous about it.
Non-irradiated potatoes sprout pretty rapidly if you don’t eat them right away. I’d say about three quarters of the potatoes I cook have small buds on them. I do discard those with green under the skin. Most will be fine if the green is well pared off, but I have ruined a dish with some that made the whole dish bitter. It’s solanine, a toxic alkaloid. You won’t eat enough to make you sick as it tastes really terrible, but like I say, you can ruin a dish if your potatoes are going green.
Depends on the variety and the storage temperatures, as well as on how long it’s been since harvest. Some varieties will keep six months or more under good storage conditions before sprouting.
If your potatoes are sprouting soon after you buy them, they were probably on the old side to start with. In late winter older ones may be all you can find to buy, though if they’re good storage varieties that were kept under the right storage conditions they may still be good for a while.
As others have said: just remove the sprouts and any green areas – sometimes the green is only right under the skin, sometimes it’s gotten deeper in. The green is a response to light exposure; store your potatoes in the dark, or else they’ll start to green; and avoid buying any that are already green.
Potatoes with longer sprouts may have become somewhat mushy, as the moisture and nutrients in the potato start to move into the sprouts. They’re still edible in the sense that they won’t hurt you, but may not taste as good, because the texture starts to become off. Potatoes that only have short sprouts are generally still fine. Remove any sprouts from potatoes you’re not going to cook yet, also: they’ll eventually start sprouting again, but removing the sprouts while they’re short delays the processes that ruin the texture.
There’s a song about 'taters that have done gone to sprout, but that probably wouldn’t be suitable for this part of the board.
I’ve eaten potatoes like the ones shown with no problem (with the sprouts knocked off, of course), but it’s more fun to put the potato in water to see how much it will grow. One time I managed to get one to flower.
When I notice potatoes starting to sprout, I go through the entire bag and remove all of the sprouts, even though I won’t be using those potatoes for several days. The sooner the sprouts are removed, the less the potatoes are degraded. I don’t bother with a tool, just use my fingers.
