Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), commonly called a yam in parts of the United States, is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). It is even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species) which is native to Africa and Asia.

History Of Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the Americas and are one of the oldest vegetables known to man. They have been consumed since prehistoric times as evidenced by sweet potato relics dating back 10,000 years that have been discovered in Peruvian caves. How exactly they arrived there is the subject of a fierce debate which involves archaeological, linguistic and genetic evidence.

Sweet Potatoes Nutrition Info

So good for you is the humble sweet potato that the US based Nutrition Action Healthletter once rated it the number one healthiest vegetable! This root vegetable qualified as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron.

Sweet Potatoes Health Benefits

Recent research studies on sweet potato has also focussed on two areas of unique health benefit. First are some unique root storage proteins in this food that have been observed to have significant antioxidant capacities. In one study, these proteins had about one-third the antioxidant activity of glutathione - one of the body's most impressive internally produced antioxidants. Although future studies are needed in this area, count on these root proteins to help explain sweet potatoes' healing properties.

Second is the recent classification of sweet potato as an "antidiabetic" food. Sweet potato has been given this label because of some recent animal studies in which sweet potato helped stabilize blood sugar levels and lowered insulin resistance. (Insulin resistance is a problem caused when cells don't respond to the hormone insulin, which is supposed to act as a key and unlock the cell in order to allow sugar to pass from the blood into the cell). Some of its blood sugar regulatory properties may come from come from the fact that sweet potatoes are concentrated in carotenoids. Research has suggested that physiological levels, as well as dietary intake, of carotenoids may be inversely associated with insulin resistance and high blood sugar levels. Once again, more research is needed in this area, but the stage is set for sweet potato to show unique healing properties in the area of blood sugar control.

Storing Sweet Potatoes

Fresh sweet potatoes generally do not store well, except under ideal conditions, and bruised ones rapidly deteriorate. In a dry, dark, cool (55 degrees F.) place, they can last up to three to four weeks. Plan on using within one week of purchase and do not refrigerate. Cooked sweet potatoes can be stored in the refrigerator in a covered container for 4 to 5 days.

Sweet Potatoes Trivia

In New Zealand, sweet potato is known by its Māori name, kūmara. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to Ipomoea batatas. Some cultivars of Ipomoea batatas are grown as ornamental plants.

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