Comment by Dove
4 hours ago
In broad strokes, the skins of things are high in nutrients, medicines, fiber, and toxins - natural, agricultral, and environmental. The degree to which each of these things is true depends very much on what specifically you are trying to eat, where it comes from, and sometimes its condition.
It is easy to forget, but plants aren't inherently safe. Produce has been made so by breeding, historical wisdom, and by laws and customs and systems. While some of these things are overcautious or corrupt, others may be keeping you safe without you realizing it. Eating things you aren't expected to eat is playing with the safeties off, to some degree.
I wouldn't think you'd get into too much trouble eating the skins of things you'd find in the grocery store, but green potatoes would certainly be an exception. I'd mostly want to wash a akin I intended to eat very well, as I'd mostly worry what might have been sprayed on that part on the assumption I wouldn't eat it.
The further you get away from expectation - stems, seeds, leaves - the further you are from built in safety measures and the closer you are to eating a random plant. Even knowing that people consider something medicine is not a free pass. Medicines come with dosages and side effects. Drugs powerful enough to help you are usually also poweful enough to hurt you, and this is often similarly true with plants.
All of that is not exactly to dissuade you from trying things, and toxic bits of things are usually obvious and not too dangerous in small quantities. Still, it's worth starting small and doing the odd search first. You never know when a particular breed of apple, grown under particular conditions, will have unusually potent seeds, and you want to have some understanding of how quickly certain toxins accumulate and clear. We do have a lot of accumulated knowledge on food safety, and it is worth consulting if you are going to step off the usual path.
On the other hand, lots of things known to be beneficial and safe are considered unpalatable due to being rough and unsweet, but you can certainly develop a taste for them. Wheat bran and potato skins are among my favorites.
Yeah when I'll make mashed potatoes, I mix pieces of peeled russets (which have a smoother texture) and red potatoes with the skin on. I like the taste of red potatoes and it gives the purée a rustic texture. When I peel russets, I usually fry the skins.
On the not safe front, I recently learned that volunteer squash can be very bad for you - I guess the poisonous varieties are genetically close to the edible ones.
Oh and my grandfather foraged and ate Gyromitra esculenta mushrooms. (I've eaten them as a child, I would not eat them now.) They are very bad news. The way he processed them made them safe. But he said he soaked them in salted water to "get the bugs out" - he did not know they were toxic.