Sweet potato, potato & corn

Posted by Sally Odum May 4, 2006

Sweet Potato is what I call a "power" food. It is plenteous; delicious to eat; loaded with vitamins; easy to grow; low in calories. Add to that it is rich in beta carotene and fights cancers plus it's inexpensive! This is a great food for people who want to stay healthy and lose weight.

According to Texas A&M University (PlantAnswers.org): "One baked sweet potato (3 1/2 ounce serving) provides over 8,800 IU of vitamin A or about twice the recommended daily allowance, yet it contains only 141 calories making it valuable for the weight watcher. This nutritious vegetable provides 42 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for vitamin C, 6 percent of the RDA for calcium, 10 percent of the RDA for iron, and 8 percent of the RDA for thiamine for healthy adults. It is low in sodium and is a good source of fiber and other important vitamins and minerals. A complex carbohydrate food source, it provides beta carotene which may be a factor in reducing the risk of certain cancers."

The paragraphs below give the origins of sweet potato, Irish potato and corn. This an old but very reliable source! Paragraphs are excerpted from "Nature Bulletin No. 169-A", November 14, 1964, published by Forest Preserve District of Cook County by Seymour Simon, President and Roberts Mann, Conservation Editor:

"When the Spanish explorers first came to the New World they were searching for an ocean route to India and its fabled treasures of gold, silver, spices and jewels. They found them on these two new continents, North and South America, but they found many other things far more valuable, including three of the world' s most important food plants: corn, the white or Irish potato, and the sweet potato.

Being a tropical plant, the sweet potato probably was found before the Irish potato -- by Columbus in the West Indies, by Balboa in Central America, and by Pizarro in Peru. Like corn, it was not found growing wild, but it had been cultivated by the Incan and pre-Incan races for thousands of years. They had developed many varieties, as is shown by their ancient pottery. In most places in Latin America, the sweet potato is called "camote", but the Incans called it "batata" and that is

apparently the origin of our word "potato".

The sweet potato was carried back to Spain and thence to Italy, from where it spread to Austria, Germany, Belgium and England before the first Irish potatoes arrived..."

Sweet potato is often candied, boiled, oven roasted and fried.

Southern Fried Sweet Potato

Peel your sweet potatoes and wash them under running water. Cut them into thin slices (not as thin as potato chips.) Deep fry in oil. Drain on a paper napkin. Add salt to taste. This is a tasty, healthy snack and a great accompaniment to fried fish.

More Sweet Potato Recipes!

Roast a pan full at the time of sweet potatoes in their skins. That way, you have plenty to freeze or use in other dishes.

For dozens more sweet potato recipes, see The Louisiana Sweet Potato Advertising & Marketing Association recipe page.