Sweet potatoes, as well as regular potatoes to a lesser extent, darken when baked or roasted due to a phenol called chlorogenic acid. The dark color is a result of a reaction between the potato’s chlorogenic acid and iron ions, oxygen absorbed from the environment, and cooking water.
What is the black stuff in sweet potato?
The exterior of the sweet potato probably looks normal. What it is: Dead and dying cells, aka “internal necrosis. Researchers are still attempting to determine why this problem affects a common sweet potato variety. Eat or toss: Cut off the affected areas. The rest of the sweet potato is still fine.
Why do my cooked sweet potatoes turn black?
Chlorogenic acid, one of those phenols, is the substance that causes cooked sweet potatoes and occasionally regular potatoes to turn dark. The dark pigment is produced when the chlorogenic acid combines with the iron ions present in the potato, oxygen taken in from the air, and cooking water.
Is it safe to eat sweet potatoes with black spots?
These “bruising” spots, known as the internal black spots, appear when potatoes lie against each other for an extended period of time. Despite their unsettling appearance, these spots on sweet potatoes are not harmful. Simply get rid of the sport.
Black Spots on Sweet Potato Skin
Like practically any vegetable, sweet potatoes can bruise easily. When sweet potatoes are harvested and packaged, they may develop tiny black spots on their surface that are not indented.
They are typically pulled from the ground and tossed into bins to be packaged and shipped rather than handled delicately like eggs.
Sweet potatoes frequently have battle wounds due to the rough treatment they receive before reaching your kitchen.
Black spots can simply be minor skin bruising or they can be the result of a wound that allowed bacteria to enter and cause some mold to grow.
Fortunately, tiny mold specks on the sweet potato skin aren’t a major issue. Most of the vegetable is still totally fine. Simply remove the black spots while you are peeling the potato, then proceed with the recipe.
But be cautious of sweet potatoes with dark pits that bleed into the subcutaneous flesh. This is black rot and is unsafe to consume.