A new potato variety grown in China suitable for raw eating

Hongmei is a new potato variety developed in recent year, which is suitable for raw eating as a kind of fruit. In this study, sensory evaluations, nutritional components, morphology characteristics of starch granules, phenolic compounds, sugars, glycoalkaloids, and amino acid composition of potato Hongmei were investigated. The results show that Hongmei be suitable for raw eating mainly based on three reasons: (1) possess a juicy characteristic and lower earthy smell, with a distinctive fruity flavor of fresh cucumber; (2) the average particle size of starch from Hongmei is 18.31 ± 7.71 μm, which is smaller than the commercial potato starch significant ( p  < 0.01); (3) with a content of 653.64 ± 83.25 mg/100 g of fructose, which is similar to the sweet potato be suitable for raw eating. The results also show that Hongmei had high concentrations of crude protein, total ascorbic acid, but lower starch content. The total glycoalkaloids content in the flesh is only 5.52 mg/kg, which implied that it is safe for raw eating. However, due to the total glycoalkaloids in the Hongmei peel is 358.88 mg/kg, which is higher than the safe standard of 200 mg/kg, it is recommended to peel when eating raw.