Should I eat this: sweet potato cube edition

March 16, 2020 2:56 PM

In a fit of something, I bought a bag of pre-cubed sweet potato. Although the sell by date is tomorrow, the cubes are slimy today. Should I rinse it off and boil it, or is it a lost cause?
posted by chesty_a_arthur to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

If they smelled right I'd rinse them (maybe give them a little scrub) and use them. If they had that slimey, vegetative smell of Lettuce Gone Wrong I would toss them unless the cubes were big enough that I could simply cut off 1/8 around all the sides and go on with life. Depending how fussy you want to get.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:02 PM on March 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

I once ate a bag of pre-cubed butternut squash that was before the sell-by date but had gone slimy. I was rewarded with Intense Gastric Distress. I am less inclined than I usually am to take chances with my food, and this is a chance I wouldn't take. (I don't even buy pre-cubed anymore unless I KNOW I'm going to eat it that day - it's leaving a lot to chance with the grocery store's prep methods and how fresh the vegetables originally were.)
posted by Jeanne at 3:41 PM on March 16, 2020 [9 favorites]

I think it is ok. Sliced potatoes kinda exude a starch that with a little moisture in the air turns a bit slimy. If you rinse them off and they're soft or have serious discoloration I'd toss em though.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:55 PM on March 16, 2020

Slime, no way! I don’t believe just washing it off will make it fresh again. Maaaaybe if you took each cube and made a tinier cube out of them, you could get away with it but do you really have the patience for that?
posted by oxisos at 4:46 PM on March 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

Okra is the only vegetable that should be slimy. Toss it.
posted by gnutron at 4:50 PM on March 16, 2020 [4 favorites]

Right now is a terrible time to feel sick. Toss it!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:10 PM on March 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

If you were experiencing Intense Gastric Distress (thanks Jeanne, that's so much more polite than what I was going to say!) and someone offered to make it stop for three or four bucks, would you take them up on it? Proceed accordingly.
posted by kate4914 at 5:41 PM on March 16, 2020 [4 favorites]

I will eat almost anything and I would not eat that.
posted by mygothlaundry at 5:43 PM on March 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

Toss.
posted by gryphonlover at 5:59 PM on March 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

Yeah I'd toss. I do not trust slimy to be safe.
posted by AlexiaSky at 9:13 PM on March 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

Spoiled food does not always smell. Toss it.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:19 PM on March 16, 2020 [3 favorites]