Hastings Forum

As opposed to "Spud U Like"! (Whatever happened to them? Are they still around?).

I bought some baking potatos this evening from Morrisons - "kippers and mash" is one of my favourite meals (also quick and easy), but the spuds from Morrisons over the last few weeks have been absolutely awful. These ones were so riddled with black patches that I had to use three to compensate for bits I had to cut out.

Are Morrisons supplying cheap and rubbishy produce .. or is it to do with bad harvests or something? The latter wouldn't surprise me, because of the peculiar weather we have been getting - a lot of rain in June and May was the coldest May for sixty years.

Some time ago, I saw a mention on the internet that the "eyes"/shoots (which appear on potatos if you keep them in a cupboard for too long) are carcicogenic - is that a true fact? I cut them out anyway of course, they don't look very nice.

Potatoes are a member of the Solanaceae family.
Belladonna, 'deadly nightshade', mandrake, peppers and tobacco are members of this group.
For potatoes in particular green skin, shoots/eyes contain concentrations of the toxin 'Solanine' which is considered a neurotoxin, and ingestion by humans can cause nausea and headaches and can lead to serious neurological problems and possibly death if enough is consumed.

Avoid anything green, the body, shoots eyes and leaves.

Thank you, Richard. Interesting.

A lot of foods are toxic - if you eat too much of them. Even the humble carrot.

The carrot family - I know them well!
Their tousled heads, their aromatic scents.
Parsnip and fennel are quite safe to eat.
Of the cow-parsnip (hog-weeds) be wary of Queen Anne's Lace, she appears pleasant enough in the meadow but may be a hemlock down by the water's edge.