Is It Safe to Eat Potatoes with Sprouts? Health Risks Explained
Potatoes are one of the most common and versatile ingredients in kitchens worldwide. Affordable, filling, and easy to cook, they appear in a wide range of dishes, from curries and tikkis to snacks like fries and cheese balls. However, when potatoes are stored for a while, they often begin to sprout, developing small whitish shoots. While many people simply remove the sprouts and use the potato, this practice raises important health questions.
Everyone has experienced this in their kitchen, which is cooking your favourite potato meal and you find that and notice thin sprouts growing out of it. Do you cut off the sprouted part or just throw away the whole thing? This is a common kitchen dilemma, especially in Indian homes where potatoes are a staple and often stored for weeks.
Why Potatoes Start Sprouting Over Time
If potatoes are kept for a very long time, especially in warm and slightly damp places, they naturally try to grow in those places. Potatoes don't stop being alive after they are taken off the soil. That’s when small shoots begin to appear. As this happens, the potato also creates certain bitter compounds to protect itself. Eating too much of this potato can risk your health, so you can try to avoid this also.
What to Do Before Cooking Potatoes with Sprouts
Sprouts are not the only thing to avoid or to remove, you have to watch the skin also. If the sprouts are tiny you can take it off with your fingers as well. When you are not able to remove it from your fingers you can also take help of a knife or vegetable peeler to remove it.If you notice green patches, peel those areas away completely. However, if it has turned much greener than you can avoid using it.
Is It Okay to Eat Sprouted Potatoes?
It’s hard to imagine an Indian kitchen without potatoes. Affordable, filling, and endlessly versatile, they’re often the backbone of everyday meals. Potatoes find their way into almost everything. That’s also why many households prefer buying them in bulk and storing them for later use.
Eating them in large amounts may lead to nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, or dizziness.
A few small sprouts aren’t always dangerous, but paying attention to colour, texture, and taste is the safest way to enjoy potatoes without risking your health.
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