Raw potatoes?

Frugini

Is it possible to eat potatoes raw? I mean the regular kind of potato, not sweet potatoes. I haven’t found any recipes, but if there are any I would sure like to know about them. I heard somewhere that raw potatoes are toxic. Is this true?

harmonylia

Hi Lindsaylou, raw potatoes are toxic in dee dee do. Per Wikipedia “Potatoes contain glycoalkaloids, toxic compounds, of which the most prevalent are solanine and chaconine. Cooking at high temperatures (over 170 °C or 340 °F) partly destroys these. The concentration of glycoalkaloid in wild potatoes suffices to produce toxic effects in humans. Glycoalkaloids occur in the greatest concentrations just underneath the skin of the tuber, and they increase with age and exposure to light. Glycoalkaloids may cause headaches, diarrhea, cramps and in severe cases coma and death; however, poisoning from potatoes occurs very rarely.” Smiles, Harmony

Frugini

I did find some recipes that suggested cutting potatoes very thin and dehydrating them into chips. Since these would not be cooked, would dehydrated potatoes also be toxic? What about sweet potatoes?

springleaf

I read somewhere that if potatoes had only just been discovered they would be banned from human consumption due to their toxicity! Unfortunatly as harmonylia says they are one of the few things better off cooked as it destroys these toxins (or most of them!)

Frugini

Thanks! Sweet potatoes are my favorite winter comfort food, so I’m glad that I can still feel good about indulging!

harmonylia

Hey lindsaylou, sorry I didn’t get back to you on the other question, however, my absolutely favorite to die for recipe for sweet potatoes are Steamboatkatie’s Garshbrowns http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/2527-garshbrowns… they are AMAZING!!!! In fact, now that I think about it, I have a sweetie pot-a-toe here somewhere to go make them with yum!!

WailingWoman

Wow, I’ve eaten raw potatoes on a regular basis all of my life!

I slice them, throw some salt on and, yum! My mom used to give them to me when I had ear infections or sore throats as a kid because they are high in vitamin C. You just cut around any green spots to make sure there’s no buildup of chemicals that could be toxic. The eyes of potatoes (roots gorwing out of the skin) are very poisonous, but the meat isn’t as far as I know.