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Potatoes Aren’t Quite Done: Eat Them Half Raw?

Potatoes are usually served when they are soft, i.e. completely cooked through. If you’ve been too quick in the kitchen, you don’t have to worry: Eating half-cooked potatoes as boiled or fried potatoes or in a casserole or salad may not be a culinary revelation, but it is completely harmless to your health.

Eat half raw potatoes

Have you already drained your boiled potatoes without first checking whether they are really done? Or do the potato slices in your gratin still have a bite? No problem! You can eat semi-raw potatoes. The dish won’t taste quite the way you want it to, but the toxic solanine in half-cooked potatoes has already broken down to such an extent that you can actually eat them without hesitation. So you don’t have to worry about your health or possible symptoms of poisoning.

Toxic solanine

Surely you have often heard that you should never eat raw potatoes, the green spots on the tasty tubers, or those that have sprouted too much. This has to do with the solanine it contains. Solanine is a toxin that belongs to the alkaloid group and naturally protects potatoes from pests and mold. If people consume too much solanine, symptoms of poisoning appear in the form of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Although the healthy limit for adults is not reached with the consumption of a raw potato, complaints are still to be expected.

Note: Different maximum values apply for children and pregnant women. Under no circumstances should raw potatoes be eaten by these people. Everyone else can also eat raw potatoes in small amounts, for example, to relieve heartburn.

Solanine breakdown during cooking

In general, you should make sure you always eat your potatoes well-done and not half-raw. During cooking or frying, the harmful solanine is gradually broken down. After that, we can eat potatoes without worrying about our health. In addition, many potato varieties are now bred in such a way that they contain as little solanine as possible.

Tip: In order to consume as little solanine as possible, you should store potatoes in a cool, dark, and dry place. Before cooking, peel them and cut away sprouts generously. The cooking water should also be thrown away and never used for another dish.

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Written by John Myers

Professional Chef with 25 years of industry experience at the highest levels. Restaurant owner. Beverage Director with experience creating world-class nationally recognized cocktail programs. Food writer with a distinctive Chef-driven voice and point of view.

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