this potato is alive!

[gusl]

Why don't supermarkets kill potatoes before putting them up for sale?

Comments

[twinofmunin.livejournal.com]

er, how exactly would you "kill" a potato and leave it edible? o_O

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

That's not my department, but I imagine there's something you can cut off. Potatoes are not slime mould.

[gwillen.livejournal.com]

You can't "kill" a plant in the same way you can kill an animal. Chunks of plant matter are generally alive until they've been without water long enough for the cells to start popping. A potato has a lot of water in it. There's no way to "kill" a potato.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

if you dry out a potato, does it start to decay?

(generally, I'd think that wet things decay faster; but plant matter may be an exception)

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

Actually ... one could boil or nuke or bake or broil a potato and probably kill it. It would still look (more or less) like a whole potato.

But it would probably taste horrible in two days or less.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

It's easy if you have no sense of taste, texture, or propriety. I've known plenty of people who grew up without ever seeing a living vegetable.

[twinofmunin.livejournal.com]

i considered that, but decided it didn't qualify, since you are no longer selling a whole potato as an item.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Dude, you can't kill a potato. They're like cockroaches. (Also, dead things decay.)

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

hmmm... interesting. So if you "kill" a potato (split it in half), will it start decaying faster?

[twinofmunin.livejournal.com]

it'll actually possibly start growing from each half.

[kvschwartz.livejournal.com]

If you split a potato in half it will go bad faster. The skin is the main thing that slows down the spoilage.

Also, splitting it won't "kill" it in any meaningful sense. It'll still sprout given half a chance.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

The stuff-that-grows in the potato is the eyes. You'd have to kill each of them.

As others say, breaching the skin (which is basically a protective wax coat) is what would let it start to dry out, get infected, and decay. The part of the potato you eat is a bunch of starch-storage cells; I'm not sure if they even metabolize anything.

Plants have much less of a distinct identity than people do. You can cut them into pieces and get multiple individuals.

[0436.livejournal.com]

Fresh food is good.
Also, growing potato vines is fun.

[noequal.livejournal.com]

Living things nourish the body better than dead things.

[psifenix.livejournal.com]

I think it is because supermarkets have not recognized potatoes for the sinister, baleful, alien mind-parasites they are.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wirehead_/]

ohman isn't it crazy that grocery stores actually will sell you tiny factories for making more of what they're selling you?? :D

i was just thinking about this the other day, wrt to garlic and oranges. nature is neat.

next spring i am going to make a more concerted effort at indoor gardening.