Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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2 potato color related questions in one post...

Got a 10lb bag of potatoes the other day, and almost half of them had large areas of green. Is it ok to cook/eat greenish potatoes?
Cut up fresh looking white potatoes into pieces and froze them immediately. A couple days later, they turned a rotten looking brownish color in the freezer! Am I doing something wrong?

edited Feb 22 2011 at 22:21

asked Feb 22 2011 at 21:56

Jack Kronk
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Helen · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-22 22:11:30Z UTC

That green color is solanine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine and you shouldn't eat them.
Potatoes need to be blanched before you freeze them or they will turn brown. To me, freezing potatoes isn't worth the trouble because of all the work involved, and the texture of potatoes frozen at home isn't very good, either, especially depending on what variety of potatoes you bought.

Firestorm · Answer 2 · 2012-04-02 14:32:10Z UTC

Green potatoes indicated the production of solanine, which is a toxin very similar to cyanide. Though it may not make an individual sick right away, concentrations of it in the system, especially for sensitive individuals, can increase inflammation and aggravate things like arthritis.
Potatoes should be fully cooked before freezing for the best outcomes. Even then, they do better if frozen as pureed/riced potatoes (preferably with a little fat added) than as diced potatoes.

Raw baby potatoes IN their skin can be frozen with some success. Also, regular smooth-skin potatoes -can- be blanched for 3-5 minutes as cubes, and frozen, and will retain their white color, however, the texture will become mealy and they won't cook properly.

Since potatoes are a relatively quick prep (30 minutes or less) from fresh, I find it better to only buy as many as I'm going to eat in a given week, store them in a neutral-temperature or slightly cool, and very dark place, and then make sure I eat them within a week or two at most. I don't buy potatoes in bulk, and have actually stopped growing my own, since even a single plant produces far more potato than just the two of us can comfortably eat that quickly.

Joshua · Answer 3 · 2011-02-22 22:08:19Z UTC

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White Potatoes aren't normally considered Paleo, and are chock full of antinutrients.
Green, white potatos, are exceptionally toxic (look up solanine) and personally I wouldn't risk it (I avoid tubers in general, but even if I didn't I would not eat green potatoes).
Potatoes oxidize similar to apples. This is possibly why they turned a nasty rotten color. Freezing also damages the cellular surface, just like frozen fresh strawberries turn to mush when thawed..

answered Feb 22 2011 at 22:08

Joshua
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potatoes seem to be making a run for it in the paleo and/or "eat nutrient dense whole foods" (whatever that means) world. personally, i don't see a problem with the carbs if you are healthy and have a rich diet of fats/proteins. as for antinutrients, i skin the potatoes anyway, a la stephan guyenet. almost all the antinutrients live in or near the skin. – Jack Kronk Feb 22 2011 at 22:15

Hominins have been eating tubers for millions of years. – Travis Culp♦ Feb 22 2011 at 22:31

The skin thing is why I prefer sweet potatoes. The nutrients in potatoes are near the surface just like the antinutrients are--in sweet potatoes they run all the way through. – Dana Feb 22 2011 at 23:03

Tubers are paleo. White potatoes are tubers. WHite potatoes have similar nutritional content to sweet pototoes. Their main downside is they are nightshades. – Eva Feb 23 2011 at 4:16

White potatoes are full of antinutrients, much moreso than sweet potatoes - sorry, can't dig the whole "we'll avoid these toxins, but these toxins over here are ok" logic... Travis, your argument would be valid if we were still australopithecus with tiny brains and huge teeth. Paleolithic man only ate tubers as a starvation food when real food was scarce... and even if Paleolithic man ate more potatoes than an Irish farm boy, the nutritional content from centuries has changed significantly compared to a wild root. Eat them if you want. Not gonna agree they are paleo, however. – Joshua Feb 23 2011 at 5:07

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Eva · Answer 4 · 2011-02-23 04:20:31Z UTC

I always ate green potatoes my whole life. Waste not want not! It was only recently that I discovered they were supposed to be bad, but obviously, their toxins is not dangerous enough to cause serious probs for the average joe off the street. Still, no sense knowingly eating something that is unhealthful. Maybe you should just plant the green ones and play farmer for a bit! ;-P

As for the freezer thing, probably not a big deal. Lots of things turn diff colors when exposted to air for a short while.

maurizio · Answer 5 · 2012-04-02 13:03:56Z UTC

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i had the same experience,fresh cut potatoes turned brown in the freezer,and i had to throw them away! luckily i had a fresh bag...

answered Apr 2 2012 at 13:03

maurizio
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Ryan · Answer 6 · 2012-09-17 13:15:54Z UTC

I would like to ask a related question. When I buy organic white potatoes, lots of them have started to turn green or black. The conventional potatoes I can get are generally "prettier" with much less green and black spots. As potatoes are in the "dirty dozen" I try to get organic when I can, but is the additional solanine content rendering my efforts void? I always peel my potatoes well and boil them.

Green potatoes? and/or potatoes turned brown in freezer?

6 Answers