Learning Something New Every Day

Did you know this?

Beware the green potato!



I had never heard of such a folk tale. I had never even seen a green potato that I can recall.

Can you see the green in this picture? Well you would definitely have been able to see the green on the one I had. My potato was a very dark, Forest Green. You know - that crayon in the box that's just a little darker than Kelley Green; that's how green the first potato was. The first one was the most green of the bunch and all but one in the bag wore varying shades of green. At first I didn't really realize that they were all green because the others were a lighter shade - like the one in the picture.

As I wondered what the F*&# was up with the potato I reminded myself that, even though I wanted to say that it just "wasn't ripe" yet, potatoes grow underground and they don't "ripen".

Long story short, my neighbor was over, saw this potato and said, "You need to throw that one out - you know green potatoes are poisonous!". Big chuckle by me. I had never heard of such a thing. Well, I'll give you one guess as to what I did (o.k., you'll actually need two this time). Well, instead of Googling, I Snoped it. And this is what I found right here.

So, don't mind the occasional green potato chip, but get rid of the tater with the green skin. He's not here to enjoy the upcoming St. Patty's Day party. And definitely don't feed him to children.

The reason for the greening of this yummy side item is too much sunlight (remember they grow underground, they don't like sunlight). Instead of a baked potato, I was getting ready to serve up a side of nausea, diarrhea and possible neurological side effects. So glad my Neighbor Nancy was here to warn me not to prepare those sneaky suckers.