A popular dish at most dinner tables is potato. People cook it as side dishes, salads, and main dishes. There are many cooking methods and delicacies like the potatoes au gratin that comes from potatoes. However, an uncommon phenomenon is eating potatoes raw. Most people find it less palatable and believe it will be difficult to digest. However, many health benefits are associated with eating raw potatoes. Eating raw potatoes raises some questions about their nutritional value and safety. If you’re just as curious about whether eating potatoes raw is healthy or harmful, you’re not alone. This article will examine the concept and provide you with answers to whether it is harmful or healthy.
Raw Potatoes and Cooked Potatoes – What’s the Difference?
Cooking your potato provides you with many differences in the texture, color, and taste of the potato. Typically, raw potatoes come with a bitter taste except for sweet potatoes. It also comes with a starchy texture that most people find pretty unappealing. That’s why most people prefer to roast, fry, grill, or bake their potatoes like the potatoes au gratin before eating. However, when you cook potatoes, it undergoes a chemical reaction between reducing sugar and amino acids due to the heat. This effect is why there’s a distinct color, flavor, and crispiness with the cooked potato.
Cooking potatoes or baking them into delicacies like the potatoes au gratin helps to produce some compounds. These compounds are responsible for the palatable taste of the cooked potatoes over the raw ones.
Benefits of the Raw Potato
Although the cooked potatoes may be preferable in terms of taste and color, some benefits come with eating your potatoes raw. Below are some of them.
High Resistant Starch Content
Raw potatoes are richer in resistant starch. This starch doesn’t digest and provides the body with energy. It gives the body many health benefits like promoting gut health and lowering blood pressure. Resistant starch also comes in handy when you’re trying to lose weight by keeping you feeling full. It improves your digestive health and suppresses inflammation in the body.
It Provides More Vitamin C
Potatoes might be tastier when you cook them, but it usually results in losing vital nutrients. One of those nutrients is Vitamin C which is higher when you eat the potatoes raw. Cooking potatoes also cause a loss of Vitamin B6 and potassium, which are available in raw potatoes. The high temperature of cooking your potatoes usually destroys Vitamin C, which is why munching on it raw is the best way to enjoy this vitamin.
