Sweet potato

Ipomoea batatas

vegetable · root

The tuberous root of a plant of the bindweed family, unrelated to the potato, from tropical America and grown in every warm region. It provides beta-carotene, potassium and vitamin B6.

Origin

Central and South America

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

Its skin is edible and carries fibers. Baked rather than boiled: it keeps its carotenoids and its sugar instead of leaving them in the pot. Its skin is eaten, and that is where its polyphenols sit: worth keeping, then — but under running water, rubbing it, which is what takes off most of what settles there, organic or not. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it. Most of its goitrogens go with cooking, even a short one.

Molecules

Phenolic acids · Beta-carotene (vitamin A) · Vitamin B6 · Potassium · Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid) · Vitamin B8 (biotin)In small amounts, not counted ManganeseWhat slows things down Oxalates · Goitrogens

Did you know?

It crossed the Pacific before Columbus: having reached Polynesia around the year 1100, it bears the same name, kumara, in Quechua and in Māori.