Sweet potatoes are a familiar food in daily life because they are good for health. Therefore, many people often buy sweet potatoes to store and eat gradually, believing that "the longer sweet potatoes are stored, the sweeter they become."
However, sweet potatoes are quite sensitive to temperature; if not stored properly, they will sprout or wilt very quickly.
Is it safe to eat sprouted sweet potatoes?
According to nutritionist Nguyen Moc Lan, as reported in VnExpress, sprouted sweet potatoes are not toxic unless they are contaminated with mold. When contaminated with mold, sweet potatoes produce ipomeamarone, a toxin that gives them a bitter taste.
Therefore, if potatoes show signs of sprouting or have been stored for too long, you should discard them and not try to cut off the sprouted parts and eat them.
Even potatoes that have just started to sprout, showing no signs of bacterial contamination, or potatoes that have been stored for a long time, will have significantly reduced vitamin and mineral content, and their taste will change, no longer being as delicious as they were originally.
Therefore, from both a nutritional and culinary standpoint, sprouted sweet potatoes are neither tasty nor nutritious. In fact, attempting to cut off the sprouts and continue eating them can be detrimental to digestion and may even cause food poisoning.
Experts advise against eating sprouted sweet potatoes. (Image: Pixabay)
How to store sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes can be stored for a long time, but you need to know how to preserve them. To keep your sweet potatoes fresh, flavorful, and nutritious, you should apply the following methods:
Preserve with newspaper.
Wrap each sweet potato individually in newspaper and stack them on top of each other. Store in a dry place at a suitable temperature. Absolutely do not store sweet potatoes in a humid place or in direct sunlight.
Note that before wrapping the potato in newspaper, it's important to ensure it's dry and not too wet or covered in mud.
Preserving sweet potatoes with sand.
Arrange the sweet potatoes in a pot, then pour sand over them, completely covering them. This method helps preserve sweet potatoes for a long time without fear of mold or sprouting.
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