Eating Vegetables Raw: Which Varieties Are Edible and Which Are Not

Eat vegetables raw – edible varieties

Most vegetables can be eaten raw. Whether you want to put together a salad, a green smoothie, or a decoration, you don’t have to worry. In fact, it is often recommended that vegetables be eaten raw to prevent vitamins from being destroyed by the cooking process.

• You should definitely eat peppers raw. The sensitive nutrients of the pods could be quickly destroyed if cooked too intensively. Broccoli is also sensitive to heat. In order not to overcook important supplements such as calcium or magnesium, the florets should ideally only be heated very briefly.
• Even if you are not used to it, vegetables such as asparagus, kohlrabi, cauliflower, fennel, sweet potatoes, or beetroot can be eaten uncooked without hesitation.
• Carrots can definitely be eaten raw as a snack. However, it is advisable to release the beta-carotene of the cells by briefly heating them. But that is not necessary.
• You can eat zucchini and pumpkins raw. However, if you notice a bitter taste, this is a sign to forgo the vegetables. It could contain the rather atypical toxin cucurbitacin, which cannot be destroyed by deliberate boiling.

Just don’t eat these raw vegetables

Be careful with a few types of vegetables. These contain substances that are toxic to humans and should never be eaten uncooked.

• Mushrooms are inedible and poisonous to humans when raw. Above all, wild mushrooms that you collect yourself should be boiled for at least a quarter of an hour to kill off incompatible ingredients. Exceptions are mushrooms and oyster mushrooms.
• Legumes such as lentils, red and white beans, or chickpeas contain the toxic protein compound lectin. Molecules that prevent the breakdown of healthy proteins are also included. In order to kill these toxic and dangerous compounds, legumes must be soaked or boiled.
• Green beans should not be eaten raw. They also contain lectins, which can limit the oxygen transport in the blood or cause diarrhea. The toxic proteins can be removed by boiling for 20 minutes. A consumption is absolutely harmless afterward.
• Potatoes and aubergines contain the dangerous alkaloid solanine in the uncooked state, which can cause irritation reactions such as diarrhea or vomiting in the human body and can even be deadly from a dose of 400 milligrams. Although the alkaloid is heat-resistant due to its chemical structure, it dissolves in the cooking water during the cooking process. This should therefore always be removed at the end.
• From a biological point of view, rhubarb is also a vegetable and should only be eaten peeled and cooked. The oxalic acid contained in the stems and leaves, which is poisonous to humans, only becomes harmless when it is cooked.

So you are guaranteed not to do anything wrong

If you want to be absolutely sure that you are not doing anything wrong when preparing a dish, you can use the following basic rules of thumb:

• From time to time, you should also integrate raw vegetables with an above-average amount of vitamin C, B1, and B5 into your eating rhythm in order to release a maximum of vital substances in the body.
• If you don’t want to eat uncooked vegetables under any circumstances, you can remember that the essential active ingredients of the various types of vegetables are usually not lost when they are heated gently, i.e. when they are boiled for a short time on a very low flame. You can enjoy the vegetables warm and rich in nutrients and vitamins when they are prepared precisely.
• In general, the motto of the German Society for Nutrition applies to all vegetables and fruit: “Take five a day, always a handful.” The tendency should be slightly towards vegetables since types of fruit often have a higher fructose content. Nutritionists therefore generally advise against it three vegetables and two fruits.
• The importance of raw vegetables should not be underestimated due to the many nutrients and vitamins they contain. The human body benefits enormously if the mnemonics described are also observed. Anyone who has consistently avoided uncooked vegetables should consider reassessing their position at least once.