food facts

I hope that nobody minds my tiny obsession with useless knowledge concerning statistics and facts about food and holidays. I happen to think that knowing a plethora of nonsensical information is an incredibly fun conversation starter, especially in awkward or uncomfortable moments. Although DearSugar may not approve, I'm all for avoiding horrid questions by quickly changing the subject. I mean how else do you deal when you're at your family's Easter brunch and your uncle asks you how your job is going and you were fired the week before? Well instead of bursting into tears or bashing your former employer say: hey did you know that 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year? Or that the world's largest jelly bean weighs over 6000 pounds?? I'm telling you read through my Easter fun facts and you'll have something interesting to say when you are at a loss for words. To find out what part of a chocolate bunny gets eaten first and just how many marshmallow Peeps get consumed each year read more

You buy potatoes. You store potatoes. You forget you have potatoes. You remember you have potatoes. You pull them out and their skins are GREEN!!!
So what's the deal with green potatoes? I heard that the green skins are poisonous. Is it true? And why does it turn green in the first place?

The green coloring on the skin is a build-up of a chemical called Solanine. It is a natural reaction to the potato being exposed to too much light. Solanine causes a bitter taste and if eaten in large quantities, can cause illness (you'd have to eat a lot though).

If you find slight greening on your potato skins, simply peel it off. Try not to peel off the entire skin because it contains valuable nutrients and the majority of the potato's fiber. Cut away any sprouts as well since they are also toxic.

So there you have it. Potato skin mystery solved.