Can one eat a sprouting potato, if it's trimmed and all? The Not Wasting Food article the other day did encourage non-wusiness... Is a sprouted potato dangerous?

This may be splitting hairs, but I've been wondering how "not near" onions they need to be? I used to keep potatoes and onions in the same bowl, until I learned that was not good. But now I keep them in separate bowls, but side by side--is that still too close?

On a related note, any tips on storing sweet potatoes? Mine always seem to go bad (i.e., skin shrivels up) really quickly...can/should they be refrigerated?

I would buy fewer potatoes--if they are going to waste anyway, you aren't saving money by buying in bulk. When potatoes don't sprout, it is because they are treated so they won't.

The sprouts are not dangerous, but green skin is--and sprouts indicate age, which means they have had more time to develop the green skin.

Vegetables release gases, so I think adjacent bowls still might be too close.

My potatoes sprout quickly too, and I'm not buying in bulk. But in barely a week they're sprouting--which I try to just trim--and they also start getting really soft. It's frustrating.

This is going to sound weird and I actually have no explanation for why this happens, but drop an apple into the bag of potatoes. I had a roommate who bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes and kept it around for over 6 months! She had placed a potato in the bag and stored it in the pantry. It was also in the same bag from the store. At six months the potatoes looked fine...As for how edible...I can't testify to that.

Yes! The apple thing works! I've been doing it for years; I saw it on a Martha Stewart show, tried it, and never looked back. Just toss an apple in with your potatoes, and they'll keep for 3-4 months.

There's a certain compound in apples (I don't know what, I'm not a scientist) that keeps them from sprouting. It's the same compound, by the by, that makes fresh flowers wilt early. So the lesson: keep your apples with your potatoes, not your fresh flowers.

What? Sprouts are bad? I have NEVER heard this. I always just rub 'em off. It's what my mom did too. I guess if there are any green parts I slice them off because I don't like the taste...but really I have never heard that sprouted potatoes are bad.

Will have to try the apple trick, though...it IS kind of a pain picking all the little tentacles off.

Apples release ethanol gas which will naturally slow the potato growing sprouts. It is an 'old days' technique.

I just wrote an article about it and other food storage options: http://fondalashay.com/mintchilli/food-storage

I can't wait to try the apple thing!

I keep my potatoes in the microwave (small kitchen!), and they keep well, but I'm all for an even longer life.

Um, I just pick off the sprouts and eat the potaotes anyway. Food wasting problem solved.

The apple thing is interesting, because I *swear* I've always read NOT to store apples with other fruits because the ethanol promotes ripening/rotting. (Unless you have fruit that you're *trying* to ripen faster...) Sounds like it does kind of the opposite to the potatoes though? Hmm.

Put them in the refrigerator!
It is an ideal cool, dark place.

I'm with caseoftornados. I keep mine in the meat drawer of the fridge and they're fine for months and months.

I keep mine in the fridge too but I don't buy that many so it doesn't take up room.

Sprouts are not bad for you, afaik. However, you do not want to eat a potato that is turning green. THAT is not good for you.

Brooklynnina: I find that sweet potatoes keep really well in the fridge (at least two or three weeks). If they don't, the stuff you get from your greengrocer is just not fresh. I know that because we have a greengrocer who has really fresh stuff on offer, and ANYTHING you buy from him takes at least a week to spoil, while the supermarket vegetables rot away within days. However, potatoes are an exception, because if they are not treated and also have been stored for a few months, they sprout really quickly. I will try the apple trick! Oh, and the sprouts can produce solanine which is poisonous, same goes for the green bits. But no reason for panic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine

I had a hunch on the ethylene thing @Brooklynnina and then you made me too curious to ignore it.

Ethylene does accelerate the ripening of fruiting bodies, but potatoes are tubers and they don't make fruit. They use those problematic "sprouts" to make more potatoes.

Ethylene's effects also "include fruit ripening, loss of chlorophyll, abortion of plant parts, stem shortening, abscission of plant parts, and epinasty*", which is what happening with the potato trick. I'm guessing.

I'm not a botanist. I just play one on the internet. :)

*http://postharvest.tfrec.wsu.edu/pgDisplay.php?article=PC2000F

*apple trick

I am a botanist, and I can tell you that ethylene does a lot of different things throughout the plant. It has some functions in roots, too, like regulating with the lateral roots form.
However, I didn't know it would inhibit potato tuber sprouting! So thank you for giving me a technique.

Thank you all for your ideas. I think I will keep them in the fridge since we live in the tropics and it's humid and warm all year round! ~ I'Ching

I will try the apple trick, but even though i keep my onions and potatoes together, i really don't have any problem with potatoes sprouting early. and everyone keeps saying green potatoes are bad. i worked at a grocery store and someone tried to tell me they cause cancer. this is obviously not true, i just ate a partially green potato the other night in soup and i didn't notice any weird/bad taste, so what is the deal with green potatoes?

I don't know about potatoes that turn green, but I do know that potatoes that are planted too close to the surface will grow green. Inevitably happens to a couple of ours every year.

Its the sunlight that allows potatoes to turn green. The wikipedia article on solanine is a good bit of info!

RE: "Put them in the refrigerator!
It is an ideal cool, dark place."

......Exactly! I tried this and it produced great results. It is also important to store it separately from other vegetables especially onions and lettuce. My potatoes are still fresh and I have saved myself some money :-)