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Even as a child you learn not to eat raw potatoes. But what is behind it? Are raw potatoes toxic or even healthy? We have put together the most important information for you.

Eating raw potatoes – poisonous or not?

Anyone who has ever tried to eat potatoes raw will have noticed that they don’t taste very good. On the one hand, this is due to the starch, which uncooked has a very floury taste and is difficult to digest.

On the other hand, raw potatoes taste unpleasantly bitter. Like other nightshade plants (e.g. aubergines), they contain toxic alkaloids. In potatoes, it’s solanine. This toxin is a natural protection of the plant against putrefaction pathogens, pests, predators and fungal infestation.

A lot of solanine accumulates, especially under the skin and in green and germinating areas. Green potatoes can reach solanine levels averaging 35 milligrams per 100 grams. So, eating too much raw potatoes can be harmful. Possible symptoms of poisoning are, for example:
Nausea,
Vomit,
Diarrhea,
breathing problems and
Cramps.
Children are particularly at risk.
Store the potatoes properly to prevent them from sprouting and forming solanine. A dry, cool, dark place is best.

Proper handling of potatoes: Avoid solanine

It is therefore advisable not to eat potatoes raw. Boiled potatoes are usually edible. When you peel the potatoes, be sure to remove sprouted and green areas generously. Such spots indicate a high solanine value – potatoes that germinate strongly are not edible even after cooking: solanine is heat-resistant and does not become harmless even through cooking

Raw potatoes – are they healthy?

Even if you shouldn’t eat potatoes raw, eating a small piece of peeled raw potato probably won’t hurt. In juice form, raw potatoes may even have health benefits:

In the case of stomach problems such as heartburn, freshly squeezed potato juice can provide relief if taken regularly.
Raw potato juice contains a particularly large number of antioxidants because the phytochemicals have not been destroyed by heating.
There are raw foodists who like to eat raw potatoes. They point out that one would have to eat over five kilograms of raw and unpeeled potatoes before a lethal dose of solanine is reached. In principle, however, the frequent consumption of raw potatoes is not recommended.

Potatoes are so healthy

Potatoes are a very healthy food. They are a good source of carbohydrates and make you feel full for a long time. Due to the high water content of 80 percent, they are also low in calories. Potatoes contain high levels of protein, potassium, magnesium and iron, as well as vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin C. Potatoes contain folic acid, which supports cell renewal.

In addition, the potato belongs to the category of basic or base-forming foods. This means that when potatoes are metabolized in the body, bases are formed. In contrast to acid-forming foods, these have positive effects on the body.

In the case of gastrointestinal complaints such as diarrhea, mashed potatoes can have a calming effect. It is easily digestible and the starch content binds acids and toxins.

Storing potatoes properly is not difficult at all. The most important thing is that you protect them from light. Otherwise they will quickly start to germinate or turn green. Here you can find out what else you should pay attention to.

Store potatoes correctly: protect from heat and light

Potatoes begin to germinate quickly in warmth and light. The toxic germs cannot be eaten and they deprive the potato of important nutrients. As a result, it shrinks and loses flavor and firmness. Sprouted potatoes can have high concentrations of toxic glycoalkaloids. This substance is also contained in green potatoes and makes them intolerable. You can prevent or at least delay the potatoes from germinating and turning green by storing them correctly.

In addition, potatoes can easily go moldy – even one affected tuber can spread the rot to many other potatoes and possibly make the entire harvest unusable.

With a little experience, you can even store potatoes for many months until the next season. This is practical because you can buy local potatoes in advance without long transport routes. The late potatoes are ripe in September and October, the early potatoes as early as June.

7 tips for storing potatoes properly

Choose a dark place for storage: for example your pantry, the basement or a shed in the garden. If you don’t have all of this available, you can also store the potatoes in a linen bag in the kitchen to protect them from light.
Pay attention to low temperatures, because the potatoes start to sprout from around 10°C. At the same time, it must not get colder than 4° C, otherwise the starch in the tubers will turn into sugar, which will affect the taste. Ideal for storing potatoes is 4°C to 8°C.
Protect the potatoes from frost (e.g. when storing them in the garden or in cold cellars) and never put them in the freezer.
Store them in a dry and airy place so the potatoes don’t get moldy or rot. A linen sack or a wooden box in which the potatoes are loosely stacked is suitable for storage. Plastic bags are unsuitable for storing potatoes. If you have enough space in the garden, you can also build a potato tower.
Check your potatoes from time to time: If small sprouts have formed, the affected tubers must be eaten as soon as possible. Rotten potatoes must be removed immediately and disposed of with organic waste. Regular rearranging also ensures adequate ventilation.
Store potatoes separately from fruit, especially apples. The ripening gas ethylene that many fruits give off will otherwise quickly spoil the potatoes.
Only undamaged potatoes with an intact skin and without bruises or sprouting are suitable for long-term storage over several months. Slightly damaged potatoes should be eaten quickly. If the potatoes are stored well distributed on slatted frames, they will keep for months.

Zavtrák is the name of the traditional Russian breakfast. If you like it hearty, this is the right place for you in this country, because things get really rich here early in the morning.

Milk porridge (kascha), sausages, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, pancakes (blini), quark pancakes (syrniki), bread, butter, jam, kefir and much more are what Russians love to eat with their morning meal. In this way, despite the harsh climate, they are already equipped with enough energy for the day in the morning.

These Russian specialties are very popular at breakfast: a national dish called kasha, a porridge made with milk, mostly made from buckwheat, but also made from oats, barley or rye, and blini – also affectionately called blinchiki – the traditional Russian pancakes.

For all lovers of hearty, hearty cuisine, this delicious breakfast offers a really tasty and energetic start to the day.

Food culture in Russia

In general, Russian cuisine is very diverse: this is because in this large country different ethnic groups live together and mix their traditions. In addition, the food culture in the city differs greatly from that in rural areas: Most people in the country eat richer and heartier food, while people in the city are also influenced by international eating habits and eat a little more “globalized”.

How do you prepare a Russian breakfast?

get hungry and want to prepare a breakfast like in Russia? Then let’s see together how to do it and what ingredients you need for it.

The first thing you should do is open your fridge and see what’s left over from yesterday, because Russians often have leftovers from the day before for breakfast, such as rice, noodles or fried potatoes.

Now set up a hearty sausage and cheese platter, warm up a few sausages and prepare the eggs – either scrambled or fried, just as you like. Don’t forget the bread: white bread is fine, although the Russians themselves prefer black bread. Just like in Russia, your morning meal should not be without various dairy products such as cottage cheese, kefir and sour cream.

That was the easiest part, now comes the preparation of the Russian kasha (milk porridge) and the blini (Russian pancakes). For this we give you the following breakfast recipes:

1. Recipe kasha – Russian milk porridge:

Ingredients (2 people)
75 grams of buckwheat
250 ml milk (1.5% fat)
1 pinch of salt
2 tbsp poppy seeds
As you like: some sugar, butter, jam, fruit or meat preparation

preparation

Briefly toast the buckwheat in a saucepan and add the cold milk, salt and poppy seeds. Let the porridge cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Stir the kasha from time to time.
Russians usually serve their kasha with sugar and melted butter, more often with fruit, or sometimes with meat dishes for a savory version.

2. Recipe Blini- Russian pancakes:

Ingredients (2 people)
150 grams of wheat flour
12 grams of yeast
250ml milk
12 grams of butter
1 egg
50 ml cream
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
some oil
At will: jam, sour cream

preparation

Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add half the flour and the melted butter. Leave the mixture to rest for about 30 minutes. Now separate the egg and mix the yolk with the sugar in a bowl. Now whip the cream and then the egg white until stiff. Then fold it into the whipped cream. Stir the dough and add the remaining flour, salt, egg yolks with sugar while continuing to mix. Finally, add the cream and egg white mixture and let the dough rest for a few hours. Now heat some oil in the pan, add some batter and fry your Russian blinis on both sides.
In Russia, blinis are either filled with jam or served folded, then dipped in sour cream.

Freeze potatoes? That’s the first thought when you’ve cooked too many potatoes again. But it’s not that easy to freeze potatoes.

Freeze raw potatoes?

Unfortunately, raw potatoes are not suitable for freezing. The low temperatures in the freezer turn starch into sugar – so the potatoes would taste much sweeter. This is not harmful to health, but the taste is very unusual. In addition, freezing destroys the cell structure. As a result, potatoes will look glassy and mushy after thawing.

Freeze boiled potatoes

In principle, however, you can freeze boiled potatoes: peeled, whole or in small pieces, you can use them after defrosting to make soup or mashed potatoes. Nevertheless, the consistency changes even when cooked, so you should really only freeze potatoes in an emergency.

However, the situation is different if you freeze the potatoes in their processed state: you can freeze potato soup and mashed potatoes without any problems, without the taste or consistency changing.

By the way, bought fries and croquettes keep so well in the freezer because they have been shock-frozen.

Instead of freezing: store potatoes properly

Freezing potatoes helps prevent potential food waste, but it’s not recommended. Because the freezer consumes a lot of energy and if the potatoes are not processed into mashed potatoes or potato soup, the consistency also suffers. If you want to preserve potatoes for a long time, a dry, cool and dark environment is ideal – for example the cellar. You can store potatoes there for months.

If you don’t have a basement or similar place for the potatoes, you should only buy small quantities. In vegetable and organic shops, potatoes are sold individually and not just in a large kilo sack. This is a much more effective way of preventing food waste.

You want to reheat potatoes that are left over from the day before? Then you should pay attention to a few tips. Here you can find out what is important when heating up the potatoes.

Whether jacket potatoes, boiled potatoes, fried potatoes or mashed potatoes: the earthy tubers are a popular side dish for various dishes. If there are a few potatoes left over from a meal, you can enjoy them warmed up later. Since bacteria and fungi can easily multiply in potatoes that have already been boiled, you should follow a few guidelines.

Important: When buying potatoes, make sure that they are organic if possible. You are supporting ecologically integrative agriculture that, for example, does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Warming up potatoes: the right way to store them

If you want to reheat leftover potatoes, there are a few rules you should follow when storing them:

Pack the potatoes in a clean, airtight container as soon as possible after they have been prepared.
Don’t put the potatoes in the fridge right away, let them cool until they’re lukewarm. If you immediately cool hot and warm food, the entire refrigerator temperature rises. This not only wastes energy, but also ensures that other products that require refrigeration may spoil faster.
Stored in the refrigerator, you can eat the potatoes up to two days after they are prepared.

Warm up potatoes: Here’s how

Basically, you shouldn’t use the microwave to warm up potatoes. This is because they cannot be heated sufficiently in it to ensure that any possible bacteria are killed.

The following methods are more suitable:

In the saucepan: Put some oil in a saucepan and let the potatoes simmer for at least ten minutes at at least 70 degrees.
In the pan: Fry the potatoes in a little oil in a pan at at least 70 degrees for at least ten minutes.
In the oven: Place the potatoes in an ovenproof dish and mix them with a little oil. Then bake them at around 180 degrees for at least 15 minutes.
Tip: You can tell that you have heated the potatoes sufficiently by the fact that they are consistently hot after heating them up.

Possibilities for further processing

Once the potatoes have been warmed up, you can process them in different ways:

Potatoes that have already been boiled, for example, are good for preparing fried potatoes from them the following day.
You can also bake the potatoes in the oven until they are crispy.
Another option is to use them to make a potato casserole.
The advantage: Since the potatoes are already cooked, these recipes don’t take that long to prepare.

Should it go a little faster? Then simply serve the reheated potatoes with a herb dip and a simple green salad.

As a general rule, you should not eat potatoes with their skins on, as they contain natural toxins. Under certain circumstances, however, consumption is harmless – we will explain when this is the case.

Potatoes belong to the nightshade family. As such, they contain toxins that protect them from predators and act as a natural defense against fungal and insect infestations. The two glycoalkaloids solanine and chaconine contained in potatoes are mainly located directly under the skin. That’s why you shouldn’t eat potatoes with their skin on – this is also recommended by the Baden-Württemberg State Center for Nutrition.

Unripe potatoes with green spots or sprouted potatoes in particular have a high content of toxins. Other plant parts of the potato also contain large amounts of solanine. If potatoes are damaged on the surface or stored incorrectly, this encourages the formation of toxins.

By the way: To store potatoes, you should choose a dark, cool and dry place – preferably with a temperature between four and six degrees Celsius.

In addition, potatoes are often treated with germination or mold inhibitors so that they can be stored more easily and can be offered all year round. Although there are regulated maximum values ​​for such substances, you should not eat treated potatoes with their skins and instead use organic potatoes. These must not be treated with germ or mold inhibitors.

Even if the skin contains healthy minerals and secondary plant substances: the peeled potato is usually the better choice. You can find tips for peeling potatoes in our guide. However, if you can be sure that the glycoalkaloid content is low – that is, the potato is ripe, fresh and undamaged – there is nothing wrong with eating the skin from time to time.

Eating potatoes with their skins: you have to pay attention to this

If you want to eat potatoes with skin, you should consider the following points:

Make sure your potatoes have been stored properly. Even better: reach for fresh potatoes.
If they have a lot of green spots or sprouts, you shouldn’t eat potatoes with their skins on. However, you can generously cut out isolated green areas.
Use potatoes with no surface damage.
Grab local organic potatoes and buy them in small quantities so you don’t have to store them for long.
By the way: Potatoes are in season in Germany from June to the end of October. So it is easy to get hold of fresh potatoes at this time.

Potato varieties that are commercially available from us must not exceed a certain maximum value of solanine (200 milligrams per kilogram of fresh mass). On average, cultivated varieties contain around 18 to 94 milligrams of solanine per kilogram, according to the Baden-Württemberg State Center for Nutrition. It is therefore generally harmless to eat ripe and properly stored potatoes with their skins on. Imported potatoes, on the other hand, can have higher solanine levels, so it’s best to use local produce.

Pregnant women and children should always peel potatoes

According to the Baden-Württemberg State Center for Nutrition, mild solanine poisoning occurs from around 400 milligrams per kilogram of potatoes. The first symptoms such as nausea, headache, diarrhea and a sore throat can then be felt within 24 hours. In children, however, significantly smaller amounts of solanine can be dangerous due to their lower body weight. Children and pregnant women should therefore never eat potatoes with their skins on.

By the way: Glycoalkaloids are water-soluble but heat-resistant. This means that some of the toxins are released into the water during cooking and are not rendered harmless by heat alone. You should therefore always throw away the cooking water from unpeeled potatoes.

You can also prepare creamy mashed potatoes without milk. We will tell you which ingredients are suitable for the potato main course or side dish.

Mashed potatoes without milk can be just as creamy as the classic recipe. Traditionally, mashed potatoes are made with cow’s milk. However, if you avoid dairy products, you can prepare the homemade mashed potatoes with alternative products.

In addition to milk alternatives, you need potatoes and spices of your choice. Potatoes are healthy because they contain protein, fiber and important micronutrients, among other things.

When choosing your ingredients, make sure they come from organic farming. In this way you avoid residues of chemical-synthetic pesticides in and on your food. You also reduce your carbon footprint if you choose regional potatoes.

Tip: Easily plant potatoes yourself.

Plant-based milk alternatives

To cook mashed potatoes without milk, you can switch to plant-based alternatives. These lactose-free and vegan products are particularly suitable:

Oat milk: Easily make your own oat milk from oatmeal and water. The oat milk has a slightly tart taste and goes well with the hearty recipe. You can also get oat flakes and oat milk from regional cultivation.
Soy milk: Milk made from soy is a popular alternative because it is nutritious and tastes creamy. However, soy milk is mostly imported and therefore contributes to more CO2 emissions.
Almond milk: With our simple quick recipe you can make almond milk yourself. It is a bit sweeter than other alternatives and gives the mashed potatoes a nutty note.

Alternatives to dairy products

If you want to cook your mashed potatoes without milk or milk alternatives, you can choose the following products:

Catch the cooking water from the potatoes and mix some of it with the potatoes as you mash. This preserves the aroma of the potatoes and you avoid wasting nutrients in the potato water. The starch contained in the water makes the mashed potatoes particularly creamy.
Vegetable broth is a flavorful alternative. Make your own vegetable broth and cook a hearty puree with it.
In addition to the vegetable broth, you can also use yeast flakes. They are flavorful and add a creamy texture to the mashed potatoes without milk. So that the mashed potatoes don’t get too dry, it’s good to mix the potatoes with yeast flakes and some water.
Use fats or oils. Vegan margarine and olive oil are flavor carriers and bind the potatoes into a smooth mass when pureed.
The amount of ingredients depends on the amount of potatoes you have. It’s best to drain off the cooking water, catch as needed, and then gradually add the milk alternatives until you get a creamy and smooth consistency.

Resistant starch can benefit your gut health. In this article, we explain what’s behind it and how you can incorporate resistant starch into your diet.

Resistant starch is a type of dietary fiber. Resistant starch has a special structure that prevents the small intestine from absorbing it. It ends up undigested in our large intestine, where it is broken down by lactic acid bacteria. Resistant starch serves as food for the intestinal bacteria, which improves intestinal health and bowel movements.

In the following we will show you how resistant starch is created and works. We also introduce you to foods and recipe ideas that you can use to integrate resistant starch into your diet.

This is how resistant starch is created

Starch is particularly found in foods such as potatoes, rice, cereals and cereal products such as pasta or bread. Resistant starch is formed when these starchy foods are boiled or cooked and then allowed to cool. The chemical structure of the starch changes as a result of the cooling process, making it no longer digestible for us humans. Strength has become resistant strength. Even reheating the cooled food does not destroy the resistant starch.

Legumes, unripe bananas and oatmeal are particularly rich in resistant starch. In unripe bananas, the resistant starch is based on a specific arrangement of the starch molecules and is therefore not the result of a heating and cooling process.

How does resistant starch affect your body?

In the colon, beneficial gut bacteria ferment resistant starch. This not only promotes intestinal health, but also has other positive effects:

  • The breakdown products of the resistant starch by the intestinal bacteria can counteract inflammatory diseases such as arthritis.
  • They can have cancer-preventive properties within a balanced diet.
  • They are associated with blood sugar regulating properties.
  • They may also have a positive effect on blood lipid levels.

Recipes that contain resistant starch

With these recipes, you can incorporate resistant starch into your diet. It is important that the starchy ingredients can be completely cooled and converted. This takes between twelve and 24 hours.

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Many of us eat potatoes almost every day, and this product is very important in the diet of the average European. However, this was not always the case, and before the discovery of the New World, potatoes were known only to Native Americans. But thanks to the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, the rest of humanity also learned about this tasty and healthy root crop.

  1. Tomatoes and eggplants are botanically related to potatoes.
  2. Wild potatoes are found only in South America.
  3. Until the end of the 18th century, potatoes were practically not eaten in Europe. Many believed that it caused leprosy and other incurable diseases.
  4. The French agronomist Antoine-Auguste Parmentier used a psychological technique to train his fellow citizens to potatoes. His field was intensely guarded from day to day by special people, not even letting anyone close to the territory entrusted to them. At night, there were no guards, and people used this to steal some potatoes – everyone wondered why they were so carefully guarded.
  5. There are many potato varieties. They differ not only in appearance (white, purple, dark, and so on) but also in the amount of starch content, as well as some other substances.
  6. Everyone knows that if iodine is dropped on a potato, it will turn blue. However, there are potato varieties that initially have a blue color not only of the peel but also of the pulp. One of the common varieties of such potatoes is Linzer Blaue.
  7. In addition to cooking, the Inca culture used potatoes for medicinal purposes. Slices of raw potatoes were applied to broken bones to speed healing and were used as a prophylactic against rheumatism and toothache.
  8. This root vegetable is about 80% water.
  9. One medium potato contains only about 100 calories.
  10. In France, the potato, nicknamed “earthen apples”, became famous in 1600. At first, the unusual product was recognized by French doctors as poisonous, and in 1630 the parliament completely banned the cultivation of potatoes in France.
  11. For the first time, people began to eat this root vegetable about 8000 years ago.
  12. Potatoes contain more potassium than bananas, more vitamin C than oranges, and more fiber than apples.
  13. The French queen Marie Antoinette was so fond of potato flowers that she decorated her hair with them.
  14. The poisonous plant belladonna belongs to the same nightshade family as potatoes.
  15. Gastroenterologists and nutritionists have ranked potato dishes in terms of their harmfulness to the body. French fries turned out to be the leader of this list. Large amounts of fat and spices are harmful to digestion and contribute to weight gain.
  16. Potatoes are a perennial plant. We dig it up every year because we are interested in tubers. However, if not for our intervention, potato bushes could grow and grow for themselves.
  17. If you see green or greenish-brown spots on the potato, discard it. Such a vegetable is not only unsuitable for food but also very harmful. Green roots contain a lot of a substance called solanine. It is toxic, indigestible, and extremely difficult to remove from the body.
  18. Potatoes cooked with the skin are only useful while they are young. The more the root crop has been in the ground, the more solanine its rind has accumulated.
  19. The starch content in potato tubers reaches 15%.
  20. It was the potato that was the first vegetable grown outside our planet. It happened in 1995 onboard the American space shuttle Columbia.

Introduction

Bolivia is a country rich in biodiversity, where the Andean mountains meet the Amazon rainforest. Its cuisine reflects this diversity, combining indigenous ingredients with Spanish and African influences. Some of Bolivia’s most popular dishes are made with local ingredients like quinoa and potatoes.

Quinoa: the Andean staple crop

Quinoa is a superfood that has been cultivated in the Andean region for thousands of years. It is a complete protein, high in fiber, and packed with essential nutrients. In Bolivia, quinoa is used in a variety of dishes, from breakfast porridge to savory stews.

Traditional Bolivian quinoa dishes

One of the most famous Bolivian quinoa dishes is quinoa soup, or chuño phuti. It is made with quinoa, potatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs, and often served with a side of roasted corn. Another popular dish is quinoa salad, or solterito. It is a fresh and colorful salad made with quinoa, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and rocoto peppers.

Potatoes: a versatile ingredient

Potatoes are another staple of Bolivian cuisine. Bolivia is home to over 4,000 varieties of potatoes, each with its own unique flavor and texture. Potatoes are used in a variety of ways in Bolivian cooking, from mashed potatoes to fried potatoes.

Popular Bolivian potato dishes

One of the most famous Bolivian potato dishes is papas a la huancaina. It is made with boiled potatoes, a creamy sauce made with queso fresco and ají amarillo peppers, and garnished with olives and boiled eggs. Another popular dish is pique a lo macho, a hearty and spicy dish made with fried potatoes, beef, onions, and ají amarillo peppers.

Combining quinoa and potatoes in Bolivian cuisine

In Bolivia, quinoa and potatoes are often combined in dishes like papa rellena. It is a stuffed potato dish made with mashed potatoes, ground beef, onions, and hard-boiled eggs, and often served with a side of quinoa. Another dish that combines quinoa and potatoes is puchero, a hearty stew made with beef, potatoes, carrots, corn, and quinoa.

Other local ingredients in Bolivian dishes

Bolivia is home to a variety of other local ingredients that are used in traditional dishes. These include chuño, a freeze-dried potato that is used in soups and stews, and ají amarillo, a yellow chili pepper that is used to add heat and flavor to dishes like ceviche and pique a lo macho.

Conclusion: exploring Bolivian cuisine

Bolivian cuisine is a rich and diverse combination of indigenous and Spanish influences, with a focus on local ingredients like quinoa and potatoes. Whether you’re trying quinoa soup for the first time or indulging in a plate of papas a la huancaina, Bolivian cuisine is sure to delight your taste buds and leave you wanting more.