Is Eating Raw Sweet Potatoes OK?

Diet and Nutrition
1

Hi all.
I’m in a situation where I have no access to cooking facilities whatsoever but can get all the food I need out of a supermarket. Could somebody in the know please let me know if it’s ok to eat raw sweet potatoes? I’ve heard that if not cooked, they might negatively affect protein digestion?

2

You can’t even get hold of a microwave? How do you have internet access? Even prisons have microwaves.

I did find that it would probably cause digestion issues - seems like it wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

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If you do, you are in for a world of hurt

4

If you’re wanting some carbs without cooking and don’t care about taste I’m sure you could find some sourdough bread, maybe even eat some steel cut oats in water. Rice will also get tender just setting in water.

5

Honestly I would have to go with canned or frozen on this. Are you living in your car or something?

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6

No, don’t eat raw potatoes. Either cook (or microwave) them or eat bread or fruit for carbs if you can’t cook anything. Don’t make a square peg fit into a circle, my friend.

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7

My MIL still tells the story of how, 11 years ago, I told her I planned to put a raw potato in my pocket and eat it while on shift. She laughed then, she laughs now.
I never did it. But while cooking potatoes once, I tried one raw bite… awful. I imagine sweet potatoes would be similar if eaten raw.
You can find better options. Be more creative!

8

I’ve eaten a bunch a raw sweet potato in the past, toned down “raw” carrot is probably the closest reasonable comparison. What’s the skinny on the issues there? Aside of course from it being a pain in the ass to prep, less tasty than carrots, and just generally being kind of weird.

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9

You have no access to hot water or even the steam from hot water?

I reckon they’d be worse. Potatoes are at least a bit juicy where as a sweet potato is dry AF.

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10

Uhhhh… I love sourdough bread. I can eat a whole loaf in one sitting.

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Hi Danny, Wow talk about derailing your thread.
Yes you can eat raw sweet potatoes. They are a bit hard to chew. But I think you knew that.

12

Yams are the ones to look out for and not eat raw.

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13

Oh I love sourdough bread too. Like addicted lol. I originally started typing that to mention cold plain oatmeal lol then I was like oh and bread!

14

I was curious about this, and I’ve at least now found five instances of people on various forums and websites saying it’s perfectly fine to eat raw sweet potatoes, with one person saying they prefer them, so I’ll amend my statement.

Hopefully OP’s situation improves, best of luck.

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15

My dad would eat them raw sometimes but in moderation, as in once in a while. I am just not sure how it would go eating them regularly that way.

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This is actually surprisingly good imo- has a decent mouthfeel
Not too hard to digest either if soaked long enough

17

This is another comment @Cyrrex would giggle at

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18

Nothing better than some decent mouthfeel, amirite.

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19

Thanks for the ideas, people. I’ve eaten them raw before, and they taste fine, much like carrots. I’m worried that there is conflicting advice about whether eating them raw is good for digestion or bad and possible enzymes that render protein absorption more difficult. I’m now thinking of erring on the side of caution.

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There are a lot of plants that are fairly highly toxic raw. Many of them require cooking to neutralize toxins. I’d check pretty heavily into eating something raw that isn’t normally eaten raw before consuming.