Carrots, onions, and garlic can be eaten raw, but potatoes cannot. Why is that?
The question is answered by agronomist Victoria VOLKOVA:
“Potatoes contain a significant amount of starch. Its 'grains' are located in peculiar small storage units — cells. If you grate raw potatoes, mix them with water, strain, and let the liquid settle, a white sediment will form at the bottom. This is the starch. The stomach does not have a similar 'grater', and it cannot perform such a task, so consuming raw potatoes is not a common practice.
Before eating potatoes, they should be subjected to heat treatment — boiled, baked, or fried. When heated, the starch grains burst, water penetrates inside, and they swell, becoming soft.
