Sweet potatoes

Sweet potato

It spends most of its time in the ground; however, this is the only similarity to "our" potato.

It can be yellow, orange, red and even purple; in all cases - it is sweet. And full of starch. In contrast, the tuber also called batata contains less water than its relative, the potato, which limits its shelf life considerably. This is why, in its Central American countries of origin, it is not dug up and prepared until it is needed. Sweet potato varieties with red skin and dark flesh are particularly soft, sweet and juicy.

Similarly to potatoes, sweet potatoes (ipomoea batatas) are washed, peeled and then boiled, baked or fried. They can also be prepared unpeeled in the oven or steam oven and then spooned out. Not only in Mexico, but also in Japan, China, Taiwan and Tibet street vendors offer hot sweet potatoes from the grill.

In the USA, baked sweet potatoes are part of the traditional turkey dinner on Thanksgiving day. In Peru, New Zealand and in the Pacific islands, the potatoes are called Kumara and are often prepared as "Kumara fries" like chips.

In Asian cuisine, diced sweet potatoes are as common a side dish as bamboo shoots, pak choi, carrots and peppers. In Korea, special glass noodles are prepared from the starch and are fried in sesame oil with carrots, onions, spinach, mushrooms and chilli peppers.
In China, the world's largest producer, (sun)dried sweet potatoes with salt and sugar are a popular snack.

In the kitchens of Africa the leaves of the plant are prepared like spinach. Only in Japan is the natural sweetness of the sweet potato used to prepare Yokan, a very sweet, firm dessert which also contains agar-agar, sugar and milk.

Nowadays, sweet potatoes are grown in almost all warm countries in the tropics, subtropics and moderate zones; in Europe, for example, in Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Text: Rainer Meier