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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: Homestead <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Potatoes
  • Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 16:51:56 -0700

Potatoes are an ideal homestead food crop. They are easy to grow, are nutritious, and store well. They are a staple around which many ruralites build their homegrown menu. So it was in our family as I grew up first on our edge-of-town abundant acre and then our farm. So when a negative is suggested, there is resistance.

A year or three ago--time zips--one of the ladies here, Marie?, offered some information on the potential health negatives from eating potatoes, especially without peeling to remove that green layer just under the skin, apparently caused when the sun shines bright on the skin. (Mulch, mulch, mulch.) At the time I didn't think the caution applied to me. A short time later some of my joints started talking to me. I decided to experiment. I stopped eating potatoes. I stopped growing them at Heartwood and I stopped buying them in the city. Eventually I stopped thinking about them.

At some point it occurred to me that my joint pain was gone. Why? I pondered the various possibilities. Lower stress? Other dietary change? Dry Phoenix heat? None could be excluded; all could be factors.

My present persuasion is that there is something to the potato question. Possibly to all nightshades. I am beginning to eat potatoes again. One difference is I am peeling them of that green tissue just under the skin. An aside: I wonder if the dark-skinned spuds keep the sun from creating the green; I have recently peeled some purple taters and there did not seem to be any green under the skin. Something to add to the experiment.

Any other personal experiences we should know about?




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