What did I do wrong with my potatoes?

As something of an experiment, I tried growing potatoes out here in the desert Southwest in my raised beds, and actually got a few little potatoes from each plant! Nothing to rave about production-wise, but it was nice to get any at all. So I dug them up, and put them on the kitchen counter to "cure" for storage.

They turned green.

I think I've read that it's a cyanide compound that does that, and that now I can't eat them since they're toxic. I am very sad, but more curious about what I did wrong? I thought you were supposed to let them sit in open air for a bit before storage.

Any suggestions? There are still a couple of plants out there that haven't wilted down yet, so I may have another little crop coming.

Thanks for the help!

They turned green on the kitchen counter, means they were exposed to light. Irish potatoes have to be kept in the dark, sweet potatoes it does not matter. Same is true when growing, keep those potatoes covered, exposure to daylight greens them up. http://www.panhandle.unl.edu/potato/html/greening.htm

Do they turn back white if deprived of light? Do they become un-toxic?

Ahhh... that would make sense. I knew about keeping them covered and away from sunlight while growing, but I never thought about it after they were dug up.

Thanks too for the link--some very useful information there! Also good to know that I can possibly salvage them for eating with my trusty potato peeler. Hooray--homegrown mashed potatoes for dinner tonight!

Yah, peel, but lose most of the nutrients which are just under the skin. Hence my question.

NEXT TIME!!! hey? haha, gardening's wonderful

Well, DH insists they be peeled for mashed potatoes anyway, so it's not like that's going to make a difference there.

And I hear ya--that's the joy of gardening, there's always a "next time"! ☺

I have eaten green potatoes before I had heard they are "poison" so I am wondering how much you have to eat.

I have given up on growing "white" potatos and only grow red and yukon gold. They do very well for me.

Peeling off the green fixes the tater, or at least makes them safe. My GF used to dry his potatoes on the garage floor covered with burlap to shade the bit of light coming from a couple of small windows. This worked well for him.
He used a similar trick to ripen his pears before delivering them. We very carefully placed them on the cool cement floor and covered them with layers of news papers. Many years later I learned that this trapped the natural ethylene and sped up the ripening process. GF may not have known the science, but he knew what worked. Holly's Ric