Is it safe to eat sweet potatoes raw?

[MERTON]

i've gotten tired of ramen for breakfast... so i've decided to try some new foods. i just don't want to spend more time cooking them than i have to.

i read somewhere that you're not supposed to leave sweet potatoes out overnight after cooking them if you expect to eat them in the morning...

that leaves me wondering if they're safe to eat raw...

are they?

 

[redkitty]

I dont know, but I cant see them tasting that great raw!

 

[GB]

i read somewhere that you're not supposed to leave sweet potatoes out overnight after cooking them if you expect to eat them in the morning...

I have never heard of that and see no reason why you would need to do it.

There is nothing unsafe about eating them raw, but you probably would not enjoy it much. Maybe if they were sliced very very thin. It would be similar to eating an Idaho potato raw.

 

[MERTON]

they're edible... i don't eat to enjoy... i just eat to get it over with and to get some food in me.

 

[GB]

If you are just looking to get some food in you and could care less about enjoyment then yes you can eat them raw.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Grated on top of a salad or in a slaw etc. might work...I never done that, but don't see why not.

 

[GB]

Grated on top of a salad or in a slaw etc. might work...I never done that, but don't see why not.

I bet that would be real tasty.

 

[MERTON]

actually... eating them raw.... it's almost like eating an oversized super crisp carrot.

 

[eatsOats]

eating them raw is fine. I usually roast them in the oven @ 400F, or if you're in a hurry cube them and boil 'em. I guess microwave is always an option. I think they're good cooked with splenda+cinnamon+nutmeg.

 

[fliggie]

I eat them raw when I am slicing them up--they do taste like a good, sugary carrot. Then the slices are buzzed for a short period in the microwave, and put on top my indoor grill (cuisinart, like a George Foreman)...grilled, sprinkled with brown sugar and a little butter. Pretty darn good.

 

[cjs]

"you're not supposed to leave sweet potatoes out overnight after cooking them if you expect to eat them in the morning..."

Am I missing something here?? What does one have to do with the other? Leaving cooked potatoes out overnite, especially depending on what was added to them, I would not advise - they should have been refrigerated.

Eating them raw - is fine if you like the flavor.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Sure you can eat them raw. But, once you cook them you deactivate some microbe defensive enzymes - so best to store them refrigerated after cooking.

Gosh - it only takes 7-minutes to microwave a sweet potato ... wash it, wrap loosely in plastic wrap, slap it in the "nuker" - by the time you get out of the shower it should be done and much tastier than raw ... and you can add some butter (and maybe a dollop of sour cream) for that "increased fat" you were looking for in another thread.

 

[YT2095]

raw eating of Any root veg isn`t advisable during Pregnancy however.
unless washed and peeled (by someone else).

Toxoplasmosis is less than Ideal!

 

[Half Baked]

I love hot microwaved sweet potatos with no adornments whatsoever. I used to eat them for breakfast just to have something hot, healthy and easy.

 

[Claire]

I've certainly eaten them "rare" with no side effects, in tempura and similar preparations where the slices were still crispy and not necesarily cooked through. As for leaving things out on the counter, I've lived in Hawaii, Florida, North Dakota, Virginia .... (I could keep going). My mom never put margarine in the fridge, so I guess I'm dead. But there is a big difference from place to place. In my pantry, some types of oil (peanut and olive) will actually solidify during the winter. In American society we err on the side of safety, as we should. But sometimes we're also paranoid. I'll leave things out on the counter overnight here, in my chilly kitchen, that I never would have in Hawaii. I actually might leave something out in Florida ... we didn't have A/C in Hawaii, so I was more careful. Here I don't have A/C, so I'm very carefull in the warm months. On the other hand, I can make ice cubes on my picnic table. I wouldn't hesitate to eat a sweet potato that had been left out overnight .... NOW. In July maybe not.

 

[Corey123]

I've never eaten them raw.

 

[CassiesKitchen]

If I were you, Id cook a whole bunch in advance, preferably baked or nuked (not boiled.. yuck) and store them in a plastic container in the fridge. Eat them at your leisure.

 

[tinkonthebrink]

some basic info

This is a great site for all kinds of basic information with good scientific backup on various foods:
Raw Food Toxins | VegPeace.org

This is why it isn't sufficient to say "oh, I'm sure it's fine if you like the taste" -

"Sweet potato shows trypsin inhibitor activity. That means it contains an enzyme inhibitor that blocks the action of trypsin, an enzyme that digests proteins. The trypsin inhibitor prevents the digestion of protein. Sweet potatoes with higher protein levels have more of the trypsin inhibitor. This makes raw sweet potato difficult to digest. The trypsin inhibitor is deactivated by cooking.
One way the raw food diet helps people is by supplying food enzymes. Food enzymes do part of the work of digesting the raw food. Enzyme inhibitors increase the amount of work that your body needs to do to digest foods. Enzyme inhibitors force your body to produce more digestive enzymes. This uses up resources that could be used to produce detoxifying enzymes. When animals are regularly fed enzyme inhibitors in research, they become sick. Sweet potato should not be eaten raw."


The other info at this link is also really useful. Good luck, and trust your own research and not what someone writes randomly without doing any background work. If you're sitting in front of a computer to ask the question, you can find real answers with just a few clicks.

 

[CharlieD]

Wow, this is sure an old thread.
BTW, does anybody know what ever happened to YT?

 

[GB]

He moved on to another site.