Sweet potato, sweet potato or sweet potato: properties and benefits

What is sweet potato?

The sweet potato is a tuber, like carrot or celery. It is obtained from a climbing plant native to warm climates, so the right point to collect and taste it is usually between autumn and winter.

Columbus first encountered the sweet potato in Haiti, where they called it sweet potatoand when he brought it to Europe it was more successful than the potato, but not too much.

The passage of centuries does it justice and today it is a highly appreciated food, above all because we know the details of its great health benefits.

Sweet potato nutritional values

How many calories does the sweet potato have?

Contrary to what it may seem, eating sweet potato does not make you fat. It is a very balanced food at a nutritional level and its high fiber content can even help you lose weight. In 100 grams of sweet potato we find:

calories: 115 caloriesProteins: 1.6gFats: 0.6gCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 3.1g

Sweet potato properties

The nutritive density of the sweet potato is very high. Its main nutrients are carbohydrates, composed equally of complex starches and simple sugars. These are more abundant the more mature it is and the longer it has been stored.

Despite its sweetness, its estimated glycemic load (cooked or roasted) is 7, indicating that glucose passes slowly into the blood without causing sudden rises in insulin. So much so that it is recommended, in moderate amounts, in case of diabetes.

As he reveals orange color from the pulp, the sweet potato is rich in provitamin A in the form of beta-carotene. Two hundred grams of sweet potato covers twice the daily needs of this vitamin, essential for the skin, visual health and bone development.

It also highlights its content in vitamins C, B6, B5, B1 and B2. Regarding minerals, its contribution of manganese, potassium, copper and iron.

Sweet potatoes are rich in one of the so-called essential amino acids, methionine, normally scarce in the plant kingdom. It is also a source of fiber and antioxidants.

sweet potato benefits

The peculiar composition of the sweet potato is associated with a series of important health benefits.

1. It is a powerful antioxidant

One of the most remarkable sweet potato properties for health is its mentioned antioxidant effect. The best known is the beta carotenethat prevents cataracts, immune disorders and even some types of cancer thanks to its stimulating effect on the immune system.

In addition to beta-carotene, it is rich in phenols and flavonoids which, together with proteins such as glutathione and its vitamins and minerals, reinforce its powerful antioxidant effect.

2. Contributes to the good condition of the bones

Its manganese content is remarkable: a 100-gram serving provides a quarter of what is required per day. This mineral is involved in the bone and cartilage formationas well as blood coagulation.

In addition, manganese is part of an enzyme that protects from free radicals.

3. Helps detoxify the body

Glutathione, in addition to being an antioxidant, is detoxifying and helps remove cadmium, paracetamol or some environmental contaminants.

It also enhances the activity of other antioxidants such as vitamin C and E, and helps to regenerate the latter.

4. It has an anti-inflammatory effect

The purple sweet potatoes are rich in anthocyaninspigments that also have acute antioxidant action and reduce inflammation in certain disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis or asthma.

5. Activates the spleen and lung

For the Chinese traditional medicinethe sweet potato tones the chi and the xue, benefits the spleen and lung, and strengthens the kidney; it also warms and strengthens the body.

sweet potato contraindications

people with kidney disorders, such as the propensity for the formation of stones, or with deficiencies of certain minerals, they should moderate the intake of this food due to its content in oxalates.

The sweet potato in the kitchen

The sweet potato has a flavor between potato, carrot, chestnut and almonds, and a sweet palate between carrot and pumpkin.

The first thing to emphasize is that you never have to cook raw sweet potatoes. Those who have never cooked it can do the same as with a potato.

It is usually roasted or it is cooked whole and with the skin, which is then removed, although it can also be peeled beforehand.

As waxes or similar products are usually applied to improve its conservation, the skin must be discarded.

As for the types of recipes that can be made with it, it can be tried in soups and creams; warm or cold in salad; in tortillas and scrambled eggs; with legumes and in stews and stews of all kinds; cut into small pieces, blanched and sautéed in the oriental style; in masses to fill vegetables zucchini or aubergines, empanadas, crepes, terrines, fritters, croquettes, quiches, curlers…

To get started, take a look at the following sweet potato recipes.

Favorite at the tables of half the world

The popular recipe book is as extensive as the number of countries in which it is consumed.

In Peru It is part of typical dishes such as ceviche or pickles and is also made sweet.In Cuba It is taken with cheese, coconut, honey and cinnamon.In Indonesia They make a banana and sweet potato sweet, the kolak pisang ubi.In Japan It is usually eaten cooked, alone or with rice, but also in tempura, and they make shoshu, a fermented alcohol obtained from sweet potato and rice.in new zealand They roast them in hangi, ovens dug into the ground, well wrapped in leaves for several hours.In Corea, With its starch they make cellophane noodles, bright and translucent.And here, in Spain, In addition to roasting the chestnuts, sweet potato desserts are frequent, especially in the Levante area.

The sweet potato pastissos that are eaten in Valencia at Christmas, the sweet potato sweet that is watered with mistela in Murcia, on the day of San Fulgencio, the tomaset or arnadí that is prepared with pumpkin and sweet potato in Valencia at Easter or trout are typical. sweet potato from the Canary Islands, some sweet empanadas also for Christmas.

Chips, foam and sweet potato air

The new haute cuisine, which experiments with all the possibilities of food, is prepared in the form of chips, cutting them into very thin slices and frying them in oil or leaving them in the oven for a few four hours at 70 °C.

To obtain a crunchy sweet potato, a very loose purée is prepared and several sheets of filo pastry or brik are painted with it. It is then dried in the oven for five minutes at 170ºC.

If you have a kitchen siphon, it produces excellent foams, after having pureed it, pass it through the Chinese and add a little agar agar.

With that same puree, thinning it with water or milk, and 1% lecithin, work on the surface with the blender, let it rest for a minute and you get sweet potato air.

Purchase and conservation

When buying them, they should be chosen with the skin in good condition, without wounds, blows or bruises, because if it has begun to deteriorate, even if the damaged part is cleaned, the rest will also have a bad taste.

They must be firm and be handled with care, without hitting them. They should not be left in plastic bags and They are kept in a slightly humid place, ventilated and cool, where they can be kept for up to a week.