Poisonous Potato
Poisonous Potato is a rare ~2% junk drop from harvesting potato crops — it refills 2 hunger but has a 60% chance to poison you, so most players compost it.
Description
Eating Poisonous Potato restores 2 hunger points and 1.2 saturation, but carries a 60% chance to inflict the Poison effect for 4 seconds, draining health down to a minimum of half a heart. Most players discard Poisonous Potato or feed it into a composter, where it has a 65% chance to raise the compost level toward bone meal. In a pinch, eating Poisonous Potato is a risky emergency food source when no safer option is available.
Java & Bedrock Guide
How to get and use a Poisonous Potato in Minecraft
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1
Harvest potato crops
Plant and grow potatoes, then harvest the fully grown crops; each harvest has roughly a 2% chance to drop a Poisonous Potato.
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2
Identify the item
Spot a Poisonous Potato by its green-tinted, blotchy skin in the inventory, clearly different from a normal tan potato.
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3
Decide its fate
Put the Poisonous Potato into a composter (65% chance to fill a level) or keep it as risky emergency food.
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4
Eat only if desperate
Eat the Poisonous Potato to restore 2 hunger points, accepting the 60% chance of Poison for 4 seconds when no safe food remains.
Poisonous Potato cannot be planted, baked, or crafted into anything — it is purely a byproduct of potato farming.
Related blocks
Frequently asked questions
Can you craft a Poisonous Potato?
No. Poisonous Potato has no crafting recipe and is only obtained as a roughly 2% drop when harvesting fully grown potato crops.
Is it safe to eat a Poisonous Potato?
Eating Poisonous Potato restores 2 hunger but has a 60% chance to apply Poison for 4 seconds, which lowers health to at most half a heart without killing you.
Can you plant a Poisonous Potato?
No. Unlike a normal potato, Poisonous Potato cannot be planted on farmland and will not grow into a crop.
What should you do with a Poisonous Potato?
Most players compost Poisonous Potato, which has a 65% chance to raise a composter level toward bone meal, or simply discard it.
What version added the Poisonous Potato?
Poisonous Potato was added in Java Edition 1.4.2 and is available in both Java and Bedrock Edition.
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