Sprouted potatoes that are still firm, have relatively small sprouts, and don't show any wrinkles or shriveling are okay to eat, as long as you cut off the sprouted parts and soft spots. However, there's still a chance you could get sick. If your potato is sprouted and shriveled up, then it's too far gone. Toss, it.
The short answer is yes. Potatoes that have sprouted are still OK to eat, but only once you've removed the sprouts.
Potatoes are safe to eat, even after they've sprouted, as long as they are still firm to the touch, don't look too wrinkly and shriveled, and the sprouts are small. There are, however, toxin concerns with potato sprouts, so you need to remove the sprouts and ensure that the potato isn't too far gone.
Check for soft spots, dark spots, sprouts, or green color. If the potato has little sprouts remove them, then prep potato for your dish. If there is a little green cut that off. If the potato has long spouts, is soft, wrinkled, or has lots of dark spots get rid of it.
The long and short of it is that—yes! —sprouted potatoes are usually safe to eat. But you are going to want to trim those tiny growths before you cook the spuds. Keep reading to find out how to safely cook sprouted potatoes.
If you've got otherwise good-looking potatoes that have a few small sprouts, you can carefully remove them with a paring knife—make sure to really get in there and cut around the sprouts, excising any roots, bumps, and eyes—and go about your business.
Potatoes can be a healthy, tasty part of a varied diet. Potatoes that have green spots or sprouts can contain toxins, so unless you can completely cut those parts out, it's best to toss them. Store potatoes in a cool, dry, dark place to prevent sprouting and premature spoilage.
If there's mold growing on it, or if the appearance of the dish has changed significantly, you should throw it away. Mold on food looks like dark spots or fuzz growing on the dish. It can be brown, red, white, black, or blue-gray in color.
Solanine is a toxic glycoalkaloid known to accumulate under certain conditions in potato plant, sprouts and tuber in levels which, if ingested, may cause poisoning in humans and farm animals.
In fact, it helps in reducing inflammation around eyes. The presence of vitamin C helps in reducing puffiness around the eyes. Swelling around the eyes is mostly due to inflammation in the blood vessels, and potato gives a calming effect to the eyes and reduces the pigmentation around them.
Editor: I'Ching, the key to keeping potatoes fresh is twofold: Keep them dark, and keep them cool. Also, don't store them near onions, bananas, or other fruit — this will encourage them to sprout faster. If you have a dark, cool closet away from the heat of the kitchen, store them there.
Whether you're preparing loaded baked potatoes, a hash-brown casserole or plain ole' mashed potatoes, keep the peels out of the garbage disposal! The starch from potatoes and potato peels can turn into a “thick paste,” which may cause the blades to stick.
Potatoes can help reduce dark circles that appear under the eyes. In this simple method, all you need to do is peel the potatoes and cut large slices, wrap them in a cloth and place them on the eyes for about 20 minutes.
When you accidentally let your potatoes get old and they grow sprouts... Don't throw them away! You can plant those sprouts and grow several new potatoes.
Keep Potatoes in a Cool and Dry Environment
As previously explained, potatoes should be placed in a cardboard box, mesh bag, or basket to ensure good ventilation. Store your potatoes in a cool, dark place (45 to 50 F is the ideal temperature range), such as your pantry or unheated basement.
Damaged tubers have rough, cracked skin, with scab-like spots. Severe infections leave potato skins covered with rough black welts. Initial infections result in superficial reddish-brown spots on the surface of tubers. As the tubers grow, lesions expand, becoming corky and necrotic.
It is okay to cut mold off of hard cheeses and hard fruits or vegetables like apples, potatoes, onions or cauliflower. Just be sure to cut away at least 1 inch as surface mold is more than what you see. It actually has hyphae or roots which can penetrate deeper into the food.
Storing a large crop of Irish or sweet potatoes without a basement was difficult. If the potatoes were stored in a hot dry place, they would dry, shrivel up and would not be good. They would also ruin if they got wet, were in very humid area, or if they touched each other.
Sprouted potatoes that are still firm, have relatively small sprouts, and don't show any wrinkles or shriveling are okay to eat, as long as you cut off the sprouted parts and soft spots. However, there's still a chance you could get sick. If your potato is sprouted and shriveled up, then it's too far gone. Toss, it.
Small green spots and sprouts or eyes should be completely trimmed off, however, if it's more than small spots, throw the potato out. Do not use any green potatoes, trimmed or not, if you are serving children as they have a lower body mass and would be more susceptible to the solanine.
Potatoes don't freeze well raw, so they will need to be cooked or partially cooked beforehand. The great thing is that you can choose a variety of different ways to prepare and freeze them. Try these methods with white, sweet or even purple potatoes. Always use potatoes that are fresh.
Freezing potatoes that you plan to roast not only saves time but can actually make for extra crunchy spuds. Peel potatoes, if desired, then cut into wedges, cubes or chunks and blanch in boiling water until they are tender but still have some bite.