A guide to nightshades

Potatoes, tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant are all nightshades, as are chillies and goji berries. They are also used to make many herbs and spices, including cayenne pepper, chili powder and paprika. Let’s get to know them a bit better.

Nightshades are part of a huge and varied family.

• Nightshade fruit and vegetables are the edible part of flowering plants belonging to the Solanaceae family, which has more than 2000 members.

• The vast majority of these plants, however, are not eaten. The belladonna, also known as the deadly nightshade, is poisonous. Others, such as the tobacco plant, have been shown to cause cancer.

• Like gourds, which are commonly treated as vegetables, many nightshades are botanically fruit. Eggplant, also known as aubergine, is technically a berry. Tomatoes are also fruit, even though we almost always use it as a vegetable. In fact, the only nightshade vegetable we eat is the potato (but not the sweet potato – different family).

The origin of the word nightshade is uncertain.

• While some attribute the name to the fact many of these plants prefer to grow at night and in the shade, others have suggested it is because of a darker past.

• The deadly nightshade is linked to witchcraft and mythology and folklore throughout the ages. It was used to induce hallucinations in ancient Greece and rubbed on arrowheads to poison enemies during Roman times.

• Theophrastus, the Greek ‘father of botany’, also recommended mandrake, another deadly nightshade, as a remedy for sleeplessness, as well as part of a love potion, and it was also used as an anesthetic for centuries.

• In 18th century Europe, tomatoes were unfairly dubbed the poison apple after aristocrats died not long after eating them. The culprit was actually the lead in the plates they were served on.

• They also contain alkaloids, chemical compounds that give the plant a slight bitter taste that protect them from disease and insects, but they can also be toxic if consumed in large doses, making some suspicious about eating nightshades.

Edible nightshades don’t deserve their mixed reputation.

• The alkaloid solanine found in nightshades can make you feel nauseous and cause stomach pain or headaches but a 68kg person would need to consume 135mg of solanine to feel any ill-effects. With one eggplant containing about 11mg of solanine, that’s a lot of eggplants a day!

• Research doesn’t support claims that solanine causes inflammation, either, with nightshades recommended as part of a healthy diet for those suffering from arthritis because of their anti-inflammatory properties.

• Nightshades are packed with antioxidants that improve your health. The antioxidant that gives eggplant its purple colour, for instance, can reduce the risk of cancer, diabetes and other infections. Lycopene, found in tomatoes, is also believed to protect against cancer and heart disease.

• Nightshades are also rich in vitamins A and C. One capsicum is equal to the daily recommended dose of vitamin C.

• Potatoes contain more potassium than bananas. Just don’t eat ones that have ‘eyes’ or are going green – they are higher in solanine and while you would still have to eat a lot to make yourself sick they taste rather bitter. If in doubt, peel them before you cook as most of the chemical is in the skin.

Nightshades have been cultivated for thousands of years.

• Potatoes can be traced back between 7000 and 10,000 years to a single origin tuber in what is now Peru and Bolivia. They were brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century and are now beloved around the world.

• Growers such as Patane Produce, in the South West, and Supa Spud, which works with specialist growers, ensure we have plentiful supply year round. WA Potatoes support locals growing about 30 different varieties, including Royal Blue and Kipfler. Fried, roasted, steamed or mashed, we can’t get enough of them.

• Capsicum, or bell peppers, and chillies also began life in the Americas, where it has been cultivated since at least 3000BC. Another botanical fruit, capsicums add colour, flavour and crunch (see three easy ways with capsicum), while chillies bring the heat. They are the basis of many curries, as well as some super hot sauces, such as Hellz Bellz Hot Sauce Company and The Devil’s Tears.

• Tomatoes are often associated with Italy but hail from Peru. Cultivated by the Aztecs and the Incas, early tomatoess were small and yellow, rather than red, and were called pomi d’oro (golden apples) when they arrived in Europe. There are now thousands of varieties, with the likes of Key Produce and Mitri Hydroponics keeping us well supplied in WA.

• Eggplants originated about 4000 years ago in India and China, with Arab traders bringing them to North Africa and Spain in the Middle Ages. Regarded as exotic produce in Britain and Ireland until the 1960s, they now pop up in so many cuisines. Try pasta alla norma (eggplant pasta), or miso-glazed eggplants.

Want to find out more about the growers behind our wonderful nightshades? Visit our members page and search for your favourite produce.