Carrots, onions, and garlic can be eaten raw, but potatoes cannot. Why is that?
Agronomist Victoria VOLKOVA explains:
“Potatoes contain a significant amount of starch. Its 'grains' are located in peculiar little storage units — cells. If you grate raw potato, mix it with water, strain it, and let the liquid settle, a white sediment will form at the bottom. This is the starch. There is no mechanism in the stomach similar to a 'grater,' which is why eating raw potatoes is not a common practice.
Before eating potatoes, they need to be subjected to heat treatment — boiled, baked, or fried. When heated, the starch grains burst, water penetrates inside, causing them to swell and become soft.
