Ashley,

"Safe" is a relative term and really hard to pin down.  The green edges 
sometimes seen on the edges of potato chips are the concentrations of 
the alkaloid /Solanum /usually found in the skin of the potato.  
Hybridization has reduced the concentration in some of the 
commonly-eaten nightshade family members.  Still, I do not often eat 
these just to help keep my body very low in the alkaloids.  Though I 
can't substantiate it in any meaningful way, my feeling is that the 
hybrid nightshades today are "slow" poisons that put a load on the 
body's good health.  The foods I tend to avoid are eggplant, potato, 
tomato and peppers (including paprika, etc.)  If I do eat them, I 
discard the skin first.  Check the information readily available on 
allergies and arthritis with regard to nightshades.

-=mark=-

Ashley Moran wrote:
> On Mar 01, 2007, at 1:21 pm, Todd Moody wrote:
>
>> Um, no.  It's not the chemicals added to the tobacco; it's the 
>> tobacco.  When tobacco is prepared for smoking or chewing, it is 
>> first aged and dried, so in that form it is much more concentrated.  
>> But the raw stuff will still make you sick.  Like potatoes, tobacco 
>> is a member of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family.  Nicotine is an 
>> alkalloid poison that is lethal to humans and other animals in 
>> sufficient quantities, and it is present in the raw plant.
>
>
> Todd
>
> I was thinking about nightshade plants today then came across this 
> thread... what exactly is and isn't safe out of the nightshade 
> family?  I've heard that both tomatoes and potatoes were originally 
> much smaller and quite poisonous raw.  I don't know if either of these 
> are true.
>
> Raw tomatoes always make me feel strange.  Maybe I imagine it though.  
> I can eat cooked tomatoes fine.  (I don't dislike raw tomato but I 
> could happily never eat it again).
>
> Also, are peppers a good food?  I love ripe peppers and I can't 
> imagine them being poisonous or making anyone ill.  What I don't know 
> is why some contain huge amounts of capsaicin but others are really 
> sweet.  Were they bred this way separately?
>
> Ashley
>