I. Can Potatoes with Sprouts Be Eaten?
It's best not to eat potatoes that have sprouted.
This is because sprouted potatoes produce a toxin called solanine. Unspouted potatoes contain only 10 milligrams of solanine per 100 grams, but this can increase 50-fold or more once sprouting occurs.
Although sprouted potatoes can cause food poisoning, the toxic component responsible is different.
The poisonous substance in sprouted potatoes is solanine.
Solanine is a toxin found in sprouted, green, or rotten potatoes. It is a weakly alkaline glycoside soluble in water, easily decomposed by acetic acid, and rendered harmless by high heat or thorough cooking.
Editor's Note: Solanine exhibits corrosive and hemolytic properties, causing paralysis of the motor and respiratory centers.
High-quality potatoes contain only 10 milligrams of solanine per 100 grams, whereas green, sprouted, or rotten potatoes can contain 50 times more solanine or even higher levels.
Consuming extremely small amounts of solanine may not cause noticeable harm to humans.
Ingesting approximately 200 mg of solanine at once can lead to symptoms within 15 minutes to 3 hours.
Initial symptoms include a prickling or burning sensation in the throat and mouth, along with burning or pain in the upper abdomen. This is followed by gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.
Additional symptoms may include dizziness, headache, and difficulty breathing. Mild cases may resolve within 1 to 2 hours through the body's natural detoxification processes.
Ingesting 300–400 mg or more of solanine causes severe symptoms, including elevated body temperature and repeated vomiting leading to dehydration.
This progresses to dilated pupils, photophobia, tinnitus, convulsions, respiratory distress, and diarrhea causing dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and hypotension. In rare cases, respiratory paralysis may result in death.
Severe poisoning may cause coma and convulsions, ultimately leading to death from respiratory center paralysis.
Editor's Note: Therefore, it is fundamental culinary knowledge that sprouted or rotten potatoes should never be consumed.
II. Can Potatoes with Sprouts Be Eaten After Trimming?
When a sprout appears on a corner of a potato, most households choose to trim off the sprouted section and consume the remaining unspoiled part. After all, discarding an entire potato over a single sprout seems wasteful.
But does this practice eliminate the risk of food poisoning?
Even after cutting off the sprouted corner, the risk of food poisoning remains. However, any issue must be considered in terms of quantity.
Generally, people won't consume enough of a sprouted potato to cause poisoning. Therefore, if a large potato has a small sprout, cutting it out and eating the rest is usually fine.
In the past, people often stored potatoes for long periods. When sprouts appeared, they were reluctant to discard them, so cutting out the sprouts and eating the rest was common practice. Life experience shows this approach rarely causes problems.
However, if a potato shows severe mold or green discoloration on its surface, or if multiple sprouts appear on a single potato, it should be discarded without hesitation.
Even after removing the sprouts, such potatoes offer little nutritional value or palatability, making them unfit for consumption.