Sweet Potatoes are More Healthy and Versatile that You Might Think

I put a sweet potato in the toaster oven to bake for lunch tomorrow and thought I'd share this somewhat new appreciation for this root veggie. I don't remember when I first had sweet potatoes, but it might have been in my Whole Foods Cuisine class- part of the nutrition program at the school I studied herbalism around 5 years ago. In that class I learned that usually what they call yams here are actually sweet potatoes. It's rare to actually find real yams in stores in this country. They are root veggies, but they're not closely related to sweet potatoes.

I might have been lucky that my family never served that sweet potato dish with marshmallows and sugar (something that passes off as part of the meal and not dessert?) during holidays. Sweet potatoes are sweet, but not nearly as sweet as that dish, and is of course a complex carbohydrate- a good carb.  Plus, as I mention below, it may even be beneficial for those with Type II diabetes or at risk.

I think sweet potatoes are a great veggie to have around because they're relatively cheap compared to a lot of vegetables. I buy them at $1.99/lb. and one half-pound sweet potato is good enough for a meal for me. It's something you can buy that doesn't rot as fast as other veggies if you don't use them right away. I have found that I can eat it baked with nothing on it, hot or cold. So assuming I think of it and throw one in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 350 or 375 degrees, I can just put it in a container and eat it later, like on my break at work. If I bake it, I don't eat the skin, but if I boil it, it's with the skin on. It boils up pretty quickly if cut in small pieces- I usually slice it thinly. Steaming is probably a more ideal method so you don't lose nutrients in the water. If you cook it in soup, you'll be consuming the water as well.

You can add salsa or some other sauce or dressing to a baked sweet potato. I once made coconut chutney that was so delicious with the sweet potato. I use sweet potato in similar ways as regular potatoes. It has a similar texture and the flavor isn't so strong that it doesn't work with most things. I make a potatoes "au gratin" with a miso and tahini sauce (equal parts miso and tahini, with some water for creaminess and usually some garlic powder and maybe some dijon mustard- this is just added to boiled sliced (sweet) potatoes and not baked) and I discovered that this is good with sweet potatoes. Sweet potato can be added to curries, Mexican dishes like with beans, and in salads. Use sweet potatoes as the starchy part of a meal (instead of grains) with green leafy veggies.

According to "The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods", sweet potato has been shown to help control blood sugar levels and "improve the response to the hormone insulin" (baking may increase the glycemic index, however). It contains carotenes- more the darker the sweet potato. They have vitamin C and B6, also manganese, copper, biotin, pantothenic acid (B5), B2 and fiber. A type of protein in sweet potatoes has anti-oxidant effects as well. According to the World's Healthiest Foods website,

It's important to have some fat in your sweet potato-containing meals if you want to enjoy the full beta-carotene benefits of this root vegetable. Recent research has shown that a minimum of 3-5 grams of fat per meal significantly increases our uptake of beta-carotene from sweet potatoes.

There's also information on that website about compounds in sweet potatoes that have anti-inflammatory effects.

By the way, the leaves of the plant are edible as well.  Also if you happen to be able to get a good portion of the stem and leaves, I was informed that you can plant the stem (where it was broken off the rest) into the ground and it will propagate.  This actually worked in my experience.  You can also plant a "sprouting" sweet potato and get a new plant as well.  I did both of these at my last garden.

See also my post on Sweet Potato Breakfast.