# Onions and Potatos.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875 "2002-12-15T11:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/1 "2002-12-15T11:09:39Z")
Okay, I was really wondering this. I’ve noticed that one of the onions I have in storage has begun growing green “tentacles” or stems out the top? Potatos do something similer, but at various points over their skin. My question is: HOW did my onion begin growing? It’s been in a cool dark place, with no access to water, soil or sunlight. So exactly what is prompting it to “sprout”? Oh, and is it still heathly to eat once I cut the growing part off? It’s freakly looking, but so are shrimp and I eat those. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/2 "2002-12-15T11:20:49Z")
It’s healthy to eat. It didn’t need access to sunlight, water or soil, because it already had enough stored energy, water and minerals. It was prompted to sprout because someone cut its leaves off. It’s just trying to grow new ones. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/3 "2002-12-15T12:40:59Z")
It’s OK to eat the sprouting part of an onion, but under no circumstances, never, EVER eat the sprouting part of a potato or its leaves. As members of the nightshade family, they are extremely toxic. You should never eat a potato that has a greenish skin either, as it can contain some toxin, though not as much as the sprouting bits. Tomatoes are in the nightshade family too, so don’t use the leafy greens in a salad. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/4 "2002-12-15T12:52:46Z")
**Tikki:** Please produce some evidence. Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, are all Solanums. Produce evidence of a poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/5 "2002-12-15T13:24:10Z")
Desmostylus, please look here: [http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2002/20020503e.shtml](http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2002/20020503e.shtml) And here: [http://news.farmca.com/apriljune2001/potatoes.html](http://news.farmca.com/apriljune2001/potatoes.html) ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/6 "2002-12-15T13:36:48Z")
**Tikki** , I’ll concede defeat here. I’ll quote one of your references: “Given the widespread consumption of potatoes, documented cases of glycoalkaloid poisoning are fortunately very rare,” adds Driedger. "The last reported case of significant human illness from eating potatoes occurred in 1979 in England. It was reported that 78 children at a school in southeast London began complaining of diarrhea, vomiting and malaise. Eventually, 17 of the children were hospitalized with several becoming comatose. All the students who became ill had been part of the first sitting of the midday meal at the school. Potatoes were the only item of food eaten in common by all the ill children. Subsequent analysis of the potatoes remaining in the school kitchen showed they contained about 330 mg/kg glycoalkaloid, a level approximately five-times higher than typically seen in table potatoes." ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/7 "2002-12-15T13:44:00Z")
[The Master speaks](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055b.html). ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/8 "2002-12-15T13:54:10Z")
**3waygeek** , Cecil’s work isn’t decisive here. He said stuff similar to what I was thinking. **Tikki** ’s cites, if true, trump Cecil. But bear in mind Cecil was talking about chips. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/9 "2002-12-15T14:13:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > \*\*Okay, I was really wondering this. > > I’ve noticed that one of the onions I have in storage has begun growing green “tentacles” or stems out the top?\*\* My worry is that you only have “one”? Clearly you spend too much time cleaning your 'fridge. I’ve decided that I am going for a jungle effect in my kitchen and I feel the fridge should add to this over-all concept. For heavens sake, I’ve got tentacles growning out of my hamburger and the other day, what used to be a plate of old green beans took a bite out of an old cupcake. Unfortunately, the beans died after that, but afterall, that is life in the jungle. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/10 "2002-12-15T15:17:15Z")
> [@](#): > > under no circumstances, never, EVER eat the sprouting part of a potato or its leaves. Actually, the solanine content of the young potato leaves is generally low enough that you can cook and eat them. This thread: [Are Habanero leaves edible ?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=2513803#post2513803) gives details. That said, don’t EVER eat potato sprouts. They are high in alkaloids, and solanine poisoning is **very** unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/11 "2002-12-15T21:09:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TV time \* > \*\*My worry is that you only have “one”? Clearly you spend too much time cleaning your 'fridge. \*\* I only have one because I’ve been eating the rest before this. I wasn’t sure it was safe to eat, and to tell the truth, I kinda found it interesting to watch it grow. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/12 "2002-12-15T22:18:06Z")
To put the “tentacles” in context, [here’s a picture of some onions before they’re harvested](http://sifter.org/~shannon/garden/ims/Garden7_7_00/Onions.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/13 "2002-12-15T23:33:35Z")
It should also be said that onions and potatos grow underground, the edible part anyway, and so the growth in a cool dark place is not so bizzare ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/14 "2002-12-16T02:08:32Z")
Is it safe to eat potatoes with the skins on? ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/15 "2002-12-16T02:11:37Z")
Not if the skins have turned green. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/16 "2002-12-16T02:26:34Z")
When you say the sprouting parts do you mean the “eyes”? The little knobs that grow all over the potato or are you talking about some part of the potato that I’ve never seen before? (I’ve never seen a potato with leaves for instance.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/17 "2002-12-16T02:37:25Z")
The “eyes” will turn into leaves, given the opportunity. [This](http://www.floridata.com/ref/s/sola_tub.cfm) is what growing potatoes look like. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/18 "2002-12-16T04:58:39Z")
\>Is it safe to eat potatoes with the skins on? Yes. Here’s one I love: bake good brown baking potatoes in a regular oven for 45 minutes (done when you squeeze it and it feels done, and it isn’t stiff when you cut through it). Eat the white insides as usual, leaving some white with the skin. Put a good amount of butter in the skin and eat it, ha. If no one is watching, just pick it up and eat it like a taco, butter and all. Question, I have always trimmed out the eyes for fear of the poison. Is this really required? recommended? superstitious? Do others get away with routinely eating them without trimming? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/19 "2002-12-16T05:56:36Z")
[Potato Eyes, Edible ?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81103) The words of the master: [Are green potato chips poisonous?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055b.html) ---
**Author:** ![Qwisp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qwisp/32/397_2.png) [@Qwisp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwisp)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875/20 "2002-12-16T06:07:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaryEFoo \* > \*\*\>Is it safe to eat potatoes with the skins on? > > Question, I have always trimmed out the eyes for fear of the poison. Is this really required? recommended? superstitious? Do others get away with routinely eating them without trimming? \*\* I always just “pop” the eyes off and eat the potatoes.The family and I have never gotten sick from not cutting them out. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/onions-and-potatos/142875.md?page=2)