Potatoes with sprouts: can you eat them?
You haven’t eaten potatoes for a while, and when you open the drawer or container where you’ve stored your spuds, the long sprouts are already waving at you. Oh dear, that’s not good. Can you still eat those potatoes? Or is it better to throw them away?
Perhaps there are people with an exceptionally well-organized household who have no idea what this is about. Click away and read something else: you have no idea what happens when you completely forget about a bag of potatoes for a week or two, maybe even longer.
Are potatoes with sprouts edible?
If you only think of fluffy potatoes, a delicious potato gratin or a fancy gratin again after nearly a month, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise: your potatoes are stretching their little arms out at you, they have legs as long as Barbie’s, and their feelers are making contact with the ISS space station. In short: your potatoes have sprouted. Are they now only good for the compost bin? Or can you cut off those creepy sprouts and pretend nothing is wrong?
Brown spots
The good news: there’s nothing wrong with your potatoes, even if you’ve neglected them for a while. You can simply cut off the sprouts. If you see brown spots around the sprout, you should cut those away generously too. Those spots may contain a toxic substance called solanine. Not ideal, because it can cause stomach ache and diarrhea if you eat kilos and kilos of sprouted potatoes. So peel them generously, and there’s nothing wrong with your forgotten potatoes.
Green and diarrhea
Do keep an eye out if your potatoes turn green. This can happen if you don’t store them in the dark, but instead leave them enjoying the sunshine. That’s solanine too—the same substance that causes stomach pain. If your potatoes are completely green, you should throw them away. Otherwise, you can cut away the green spots and simply make some delicious mashed potatoes.
Gardening
Not keen on eating the sprouted potatoes? Just plant them in the garden and start your own little potato patch. It’s sustainable too—throwing away food is always a shame.
Also read:
- Starting potatoes in cold water or directly in boiling water: what do you do?
- You shouldn’t put up with it anymore when someone says you should leave your potatoes on the left
- 10 tips to prevent your supplies from spoiling and growing mold
Source: EkoMenu
