Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes 

Despite its name, the sweet potato really doesn't belong to the same family as the potato, not even close.  Potatoes are tubers, sweet potatoes and roots. In some places, the darker colored sweet potatoes have been mistakenly called yams.  (Yams are often whitish to purplish color, depending on the variety.  They have a distinct earthy taste, hardy texture and are hardly sweet.)There are many varieties of sweet potatoes with flesh ranging from white, yellow, orange and purple.  Even the shapes and sizes range from being short and blocky to long and thin. Sweet potatoes, especially the deeper-colored ones, are extremely rich in carotenes (precursor of vitamin A).  They are also an excellent source of vitamins C, B2, B6, E and biotin (B7). In the minerals department, they provide good amounts of manganese, folate (folic acid), copper and iron.  It also has pantothenic acid and is rich in dietary fiber. Sweet potatoes are excellent sources of plant proteins with very low calories.  Unlike other starchy root vegetables, it is very low in sugar, and in fact is a good blood sugar regulator.