# Poisonous Potatos **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 30, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256 "2002-08-30T07:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/1 "2002-08-30T07:13:01Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfrenchfry.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mfrenchfry.html) Potatos are poisonous. Well, at least the sprouts are, as they contain alkalines. So, there was good reason to believe they were poisonous, especially in those days when they were probably not eaten fresh. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/2 "2002-08-30T09:49:46Z")
So are the green bits, so don’t be eating potatos that have been sitting in the light and have turned green. Is there a non-deadly Nightshade, or why is it always called ‘Deadly Nightshade’? Is it a “Sunny Morecambe” type situation? ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/3 "2002-08-30T14:02:10Z")
On the kids show Arthur, they did a skit about this. They said the green ones are hamrless unless you eat 1,000 of them. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/4 "2002-08-30T14:33:57Z")
Cecil has covered this, pretty much, in: [Are green potato chips poisonous?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055b.html) and in [Is it true all the vitamins in potatoes, apples, etc., are in the skin?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_057.html) ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/5 "2002-08-30T15:01:27Z")
Cecil has covered the toxicity of green spuds. [Are green potato chips poisonous?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055b.html) > [@](#): > > Do you know how many green potato chips you’d have to eat to kill yourself? Fifty kajillion, that’s how many. You could get killed if fifty kajillion potato chips fell on you. So let’s not get too excited here. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/6 "2002-08-30T15:08:22Z")
One of these days, I"m going to have to learn how to use that preview button. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/7 "2002-08-30T17:27:44Z")
OK, that covers green spuds, but no mention of those nasty “eyes.” ---
**Author:** ![liriodendron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/df788c/32.png) [@liriodendron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liriodendron)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/8 "2002-08-30T23:34:05Z")
The Dutch don’t eat (just) mayonnaise, it’s mayo-like with a healthy dose of garlic added to give the crap flavour. It tastes better than ketchup or (yuch) vinegar! PS One of the reasons the Spanish thought the potato was poisonous was not so much the bitterness and the green rind of the tubers, but because the fruit are somewhat poisonous (&, not knowing what the plant was about, people assumed that it was the fruit they were to eat). ---
**Author:** ![Savaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@Savaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savaka)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poisonous-potatos/126256/9 "2002-08-31T07:54:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > **Potatos are poisonous. Well, at least the sprouts are, as they contain alkalines.** This is a minor hijack, but the toxins you’re talking about are called alkal **oids** , which are nitrogen-containing organic bases produced by plants. An alkali (base), on the other hand, is any substances with a pH higher than 7. All alkaloids are alkaline, and many (all?) are poisonous. However, not all alkalis are poisonous.