Philip Thrift wrote:

>On Thu, 30 May 2002 17:14:55 -0400, Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]>
>wrote:
>
>I don't know what the list of wild roots would be, but
>
>   http://www.fao.org/inpho/vlibrary/t0207e/T0207E08.htm
>
>notes many wild roots that are toxic, and must have been cooked to
>be eaten successfully (assuming there were any roots like these
>eaten by paleohumans, who did no cultivation).

I found the following interesting: "Potato contains the glycoalkaloids
alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine (Maya, 1980), concentrated mainly in
the flowers and sprouts (200 to 500 mg/100 g). In healthy potato tubers
the concentration of the glycoalkaloids is usually less than 10 mg/100
g and this can normally be reduced by peeling (Wood and Young, 1974;
Bushway et al., 1983)."

Setting aside the fact that potatoes are New World foods, this supports
the observation made by a number of people on this list some time ago
that potatoes are indeed edible raw.  I recall one person saying that
he ate them that way regularly while in college.  The small amount of
alkaloids in the actual "meat" of the potato would pose no problem.  I
had not known that the alkaloids were mainly in the flowers, sprouts,
and peels.

Todd Moody
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