Sweet potato "sprouts": edible?

[MrsJohnnyG]

I just found a sweet potato that I had completely forgotten about. The sweet potato itself feels too mushy to be edible now, but it's sprouted these lovely reddish green leaves... the sprouts are shooting up several inches out of the potato.

I'm just dying to snip them off and throw them into my next smoothie. Anyone know if these are edible or not? I should Google this... but I trust you all more than Google! :D

[parsnip]

I think potato leaves are toxic. You should plant it and keep admiring it. :)

[MrsJohnnyG]

Thank you... after I posted I found where people (on non-raw sites) were saying "Sure, they are edible after you cook them." :rolleyes: That's a shame, they look soooo yummy! (I'm weird though... I used to want to eat freshly cut grass, and various weeds when I was a child. :eek:)

For instance, found this... where did you find out they are toxic? so they are toxic when raw, but not when cooked?


The sweet potato is one of the world's most cultivated crops, and is grown all over the world, but especially in Asia and the Pacific. The leaves are good forage for domestic animals, so consumption by humans is looked down upon in some places as the food of the poor. However, because some varieties of leaves are high in protein, they can serve an important place in a diet that is based on tubers and other grains. Chinese herbalist lore says that the leaves can improve the respiratory and renal system function.

Like spinach, chard and other greens, sweet potatoes leaves are highly versatile. Cooking with Asian Leaves has two recipes: sweet potato leaves in a coconut milk sauce, and stir-fried sweet potato leaves. Since it was still close to my Eat Local month, I used the second one as my inspiration. I found the leaves to be quite tasty: tender, a nicely balanced flavor, not even a hint of bitterness, and none of that strange astringency that greens like spinach and chard possess.

[FloridaPatty]

salads. My source is www.pfaf.org.

If you plant it thought, it will grow very fast and you will have a lot more leaves to eat!

[MrsJohnnyG]

Thank you, Patty! I've been finding several sites that say it's edible but the toxic comment had me worried. I'm so excited -- I love new greens discoveries! :D

[parsnip]

Sorry, I was thinking of regular potatoes -- sounds like it may be different with sweet potatoes -- and I didn't look it up. So your research is probably more valid than my assumptions! :)

[MrsJohnnyG]

No problem at all, parsnip! I appreciate your taking to reply and am glad we both learned something new! :D

[Anastasia Alston]

Regular potatoes & sweet potatoes aren't in the same family. Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family & are not a solanum like white potatoes. I never thought of eating the leaves before. Interesting.... :)

- Stasi, Pea Pod (Morab), Rosie Cotton & Binnabik (The Pibble Posse)

[FloridaPatty]

leaves were edible. They grow wonderfully here in Florida in the summer. They take over yards. And it's one of the few salad items we can grow that time of the year. And by eating the leaves we don't have to wait for fall for a harvest!

Last summer my salads had sweet potato leaves, maroon hibiscus leaves, moringa leaves, nastriums. A little lettuce for filler. Yummy. And cheap.