A part of a good diet is to know the toxic plants around you, just as our ancestors would have.
In the next set of posts, I will try to write about various common plants, but today let's start with one of the most boring of examples, the potato.
Today, if you ask a city kid they probably tell you that french fries grow on trees, right next to the pop-corn bush, even fewer people would recognize the potato plant in the garden.
Potatoes are tubers, and even if they come from South America, which means they were not the food of my ancestors, I do consider them a part of the "caveman diet" in small quantities. The paleolithic cavemen would not pass an opportunity to eat a tuber rich in starch (sugar).
What is interesting, is the plant is actually poisonous, especially the green parts, potato salad in the medieval witches' days had a totally different meaning. -- Oops, I thought it was spinach! Too late.
As we know potatoes are basically safe, that is unless the store keeps them exposed to light and then you prolong that until they start turning green.
I have to admit that I love "Zuppa Toscana" with sliced unpeeled potatoes in the local Olive Garden and I feel quite safe eating it, but there is also a very good reason why I was taught to ALWAYS peel my potatoes at home. If you were to eat the green potato skin, you could end up with, at least, an upset stomach.
Store your potatoes in total darkness, keep them from getting damp in storage, peel them carefully, while dropping peeled potatoes into the water, and soak them clean before cooking.
What is interesting, is the plant is actually poisonous, especially the green parts, potato salad in the medieval witches' days had a totally different meaning. -- Oops, I thought it was spinach! Too late.
As we know potatoes are basically safe, that is unless the store keeps them exposed to light and then you prolong that until they start turning green.
I have to admit that I love "Zuppa Toscana" with sliced unpeeled potatoes in the local Olive Garden and I feel quite safe eating it, but there is also a very good reason why I was taught to ALWAYS peel my potatoes at home. If you were to eat the green potato skin, you could end up with, at least, an upset stomach.
Store your potatoes in total darkness, keep them from getting damp in storage, peel them carefully, while dropping peeled potatoes into the water, and soak them clean before cooking.
