Discussion Board

Is it okay to eat raw sweet potato or Yam? I know some cruciferous vegetables you should atleast cook it slightly to get rid of harmful enzymes, not sure about potato or Yam.

Yams are poisonous raw, sweet potatoes are not poisonous. Note that jewel "yams" and garnet "yams" sold in western grocery stores are sweet potatoes with some strange marketing. Yams are an African root hard to find in the US. You're unlikely to mistake one for the other as yams look like this: http://www.dailyyonder.com/files/u2/big-yam-410.jpg

Some animal studies show that raw sweet potatoes are not as easily digested as cooked ones, but I haven't seen any human studies on it.

I didn't know the fine difference in Yams and Sweet Potato as they are interchangeably used here in US. What I meant is something like this.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... U&dur=3912

I eat them raw all the time! They are sweet & crunchy, and I love shredding them into salads!

You do, my question is whether it is hazardous in anyway. I love the raw crunchy taste, when I boil it, it messes the taste, texture. It tastes more like sweet carrot.