Are Crocs edible? The answer may be different than you think. Of course, you can eat crocs if you’re talking about the animal, but can you eat Crocs if you’re talking about your shoes? If you could eat Crocs, it would make a funny dare, but could they provide nourishment in an emergency?
To find out if Crocs are edible, we’ve looked into the chemical makeup of Crocs and other safety factors involved in eating shoes, such as their digestibility and how to ensure that they’re pathogen-free. We’ll also explain how to cook them and how they taste.
Can You Eat Crocs?
Yes, it is possible to eat Crocs shoes. It turns out that at least most of the material that makes up Crocs is edible and non-toxic. However, there are unknown ingredients as well. So, try them at your own risk.
If you decide to eat your Crocs, you will want to make sure to sterilize them and cut them into extra-small pieces. We can’t promise that eating Crocs is a pleasant experience or very tasty at all, but it is a possibility, and many people have tried it.
You might also like this: Why Are Crocs So Expensive? The Truth Behind the Price
What Are Crocs Made Of?
Crocs ingredients are reportedly non-toxic and organic. But are they? Of course, not all non-toxic and organic substances are edible. After all, you’re not going to want to chow down on a rock (which is also non-toxic and organic).
Let’s look a little more closely at the “ingredients” in Crocs to see whether or not they’re really non-toxic and if we want to eat them.
Croslite
The main ingredient in most Crocs is a proprietary closed-cell foam resin called Croslite.
Croslite contains a polymer called ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). You’re more likely to hear EVA referred to as “expanded rubber” or “foam rubber.” You might even have an EVA yoga mat or sleeping bag mat.
So, what do scientific studies say about EVA edibility?
- EVA often contains inorganic filler, such as aluminum trihydroxide (ATH), which dentists use for tooth polishing.
- EVA does not interact with intestinal chemicals or enzymes in simulations, suggesting it’s safe in the digestive system.
- EVA has the potential for assisting in controlled oral drug releases and being used in 3D printed drugs.
Other Ingredients
According to Crocs, it’s possible that not all Crocs are made entirely of Croslite and may contain other ingredients. Without knowing what those ingredients are, it’s impossible to guess if all the ingredients in Crocs are 100% edible or not.
So, if the idea of not knowing the toxicity level of some of the ingredients in your Crocs makes you nervous, you might not want to give eating them a try.
What Happens if You Eat Crocs?
To find out what happens when you eat Crocs, let’s explore the pathogens that might be on your shoes, how digestible Crocs are, and whether they have any nutritional value.
Pathogens on Crocs
The majority of our shoes are covered in bacteria, including E. coli, which means there’s no way we’d want to put them in our mouths without cleaning them. Eating dirty Crocs without sterilizing them could result in you digesting dangerous bacteria, fungi, or viruses that could make you ill.
Cleaning Crocs to make them safer to consume is a different process than you would regularly use to remove mold from shoes. We’ll discuss the process further in this article.
Digestibility and Nutritional Value of Crocs
You can consume Crocs, but they’re not going to break down much (if at all) in your digestive system. After all, scientists have studied EVA for usage in timed-release medicine. Slow-release capsules pass through the intestines and are often defecated out whole without contributing any nutrition to the body.
If you try to swallow a piece that is too large, you may feel like it’s stuck in your esophagus and won’t go down.
Chances are that your body won’t do anything to try to digest your Crocs, and they aren’t going to have much (if any) nutritional value. In fact, the pieces will most likely pass through you and come out undigested on the other side.
Are Crocs Good for Cooking?
Not really. They’re not that tasty, and they resist being cooked as much as trying to cook a piece of foam or plastic.
Another factor to consider is that the main ingredient in Crocs, Croslite, is made from EVA, which often contains the organic filler ATH. ATH is actually a flame retardant, so you won’t have a lot of success roasting Crocs over an open flame like you would if you had the animal croc around to cook.
Can I Boil Crocs?
Yes, you can boil your Crocs, but they will start to soften and melt.
If you’ve ever worn your Crocs on a hot day, you probably noticed that they started feeling slightly softer as the temperature increased. That softening sensation you experienced with your Crocs on a hot day is because the EVA in Croslite starts to melt at 94.46°F (34.7°C).
However, “melting” Croslite is different from melting ice or melting chocolate. Rather than turning to a liquid, your Crocs will just get soft, which makes sense since you’ve likely never seen someone’s Crocs melt off their feet on an extremely hot summer’s day.
If you put your Crocs into a pot of boiling water or even hot water, they would start the melting process and become softer and more pliable. They’re not going to turn to liquid, but they will become softer and maybe a little easier to attempt to eat.
How Hot Do My Crocs Need To Get To Be Safer To Eat?
Boiling might also get rid of many of the pathogens on your shoes if you’re considering eating them. So, if you’re thinking about eating your Crocs as an experiment, on a dare, or because you’re lost and desperate for food, you will want to start by boiling them to make them safer to consume.
To keep normal foods free of pathogens, we rely on pasteurization or cooking. Heat kills pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli that could make us sick. The meat we cook to the hottest internal temperature is poultry, which needs to reach 165°F (74°C) to be safe. Since the boiling point of water is 212°F (100°C), boiling your Crocs will kill off the pathogens that we worry about in our foods.
While most pathogens will die the moment they hit the boiling water, it’s not a bad idea to leave your Crocs in the boiling water for a few minutes.
You will want to boil your Crocs no more than two hours before you plan to eat them rather than boiling them and saving them for some future snack.
Spore-forming bacteria can multiply at room temperature. Such bacteria include Clostridium botulinum, whose neurotoxin causes botulism. These bacteria begin to grow when the temperature of your Crocs drops below 130°F (54°C) and can double every 90 minutes at room temperature.
What Do Crocs Taste Like?
If you ask someone what a random animal tastes like, they almost always end up tasting like chicken. Chicken of the woods, mushrooms, rabbits, snakes, frogs, alligators, and even crocodiles taste a lot like chicken. But do Crocs shoes taste like chicken?
Of course not. Not even close. They also don’t have a vegetable-like taste.
So, what do Crocs taste like? If you’ve ever had the displeasure of wearing a mouthguard for sports or to prevent teeth grinding while you sleep, Crocs taste a little like that. If you can imagine chewing your mouthguard down for food, you can imagine the texture and taste of your Crocs shoes.
Adding seasonings won’t help much with a substance that’s one step away from tasting like plastic. Some people have tried sauteeing their Crocs with a bit of oil and garlic. If you were lost in the woods and ran across some wild onions, you might dice them up and boil them together to add a hint of flavor.
No matter how you attempt to flavor your Crocs, you’re still going to be left with a chewy piece of plastic-like substance. Our suggestion is to cut them into the tiniest pieces possible. Try cutting a piece that’s no larger than the width of your pinkie fingernail. Then, swallow it like you would a pill.
Final Thoughts on Eating Crocs
Are crocs edible? Sure, you can eat Crocs, but you’re not going to get a lot of eating pleasure or nutritional value from the process. It may be an interesting one-time trial, but it’s not highly recommended unless it’s absolutely necessary.
If you do decide to attempt to eat your Crocs, you should boil them first to remove pathogens, and then cut them into extremely tiny pieces so that they don’t get stuck in your throat. However or whyever you’re eating your Crocs, just be sure to be as smart and safe about it as possible.
If you try eating your Crocs, let us know about your experience in the comments section below.
