Sweet potato sweet potato

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Sweet potato, or its second name, sweet potato, refers to the type of tuberous plants. The sweet potato is a relative of the popular and ornamental garden plant, the name of which is the morning glory bindweed. When the word yam is used by many people, they recall the adventure novels read in childhood, the heroes of which cooked sweet yam over the fire, following the example of the aborigines. Sweet potato is a sweet potato native to South America. Nowadays, the sweet potato variety is very popular in countries from the Mediterranean to Japan.

Sweet potato sweet potato

Description of sweet potato

Sweet potato tubers can be covered with red or pink, gray or almost purple (depending on which variety) skin. Outwardly, the vegetable resembles very large potato fruits (a tuber can weigh 2-4 kg). At the same time, such a fruit is immediately visible: it grows completely differently from a potato, and by the bush you can determine whose sweet potato is actually a close relative. Above 18 cm, the sweet potato bush does not rise (compared to a potato bush, these are dwarf values). The sweet potato spreads out, releasing vines of five meters in length, which take root in the internodes. Sweet potato leaves look decorative - in the shape of hearts or palms with spread fingers, like ivy. Funnel flowers come in delicate shades: white, pink, purple or lilac.

What does sweet potato contain?

• Iron
• Beta carotene
• Thiamine
• Riboflavin
• Protein
• Sugar
• Starch
• Carbohydrates
• Vitamin C
• Fiber to help digest food and reduce cholesterol damage to the body.
• Calcium, essential for strong bones and teeth.
• Cryptoxanthins are compounds that help bones and cartilage affected by arthritis.

In terms of the saturation of trace elements and vitamins, sweet potatoes are superior to other similar vegetables and can replace them. In addition, the calorie content of sweet potatoes is 61 calories per 100 grams. When there is such a calorie content, the vegetable, unlike the standard potato, is eaten raw by some people.

Variety differences

Choosing the best

According to Taste qualities, all varieties of sweet potatoes are conventionally divided into fodder, vegetable and dessert and each type is called in a special way.

1. The fodder ones are the freshest and with the palest pulp.
2. Vegetables - with yellow or pink flesh, quite sweet, as are sweet vegetables - carrots or tomatoes. Popularly a substitute for ordinary potatoes.
3. Dessert ones are very sweet and fragrant and can have an almost melon or banana flavor, and their flesh is bright, red or orange.

On our plots, some popular varieties of vegetables and dessert species are most often grown from seeds.

Fodder

• Forage varieties include Brazilian and White Bouquet, both light-skinned, light-fleshed, large tubers up to 4 kg, and high-yielding.

Vegetable

• Japanese - The fruit is pale orange inside and out.Medium flavor and aroma, tubers up to 2 kg, early and very productive variety.
• Beauregard - red or orange peel, orange pulp, large tubers from 2 to 4 kg. The fruit is somewhat watery.
• Old-fashioned southern queen - light (white or grayish) skin, creamy pink pulp, small tubers up to 1.5 kg. Average taste.
• California Gold - orange fruit inside and outside, sweet, long tubers weighing up to 2 kg, good yield.

Dessert

• Korean violet is a very interesting variety: the skin is lilac, and the flesh is white, very sweet and fragrant, the average weight of tubers is 1-3 kg, but the yield is average.
• Amish Red is red-skinned with orange-red flesh, very sweet and smells like melon. Tubers up to 1.5 kg. The variety is fruitful.

Who is the sweet potato contraindicated for?

Many people mistakenly assume that a plant so rich in starch and sugar can be harmful to people with diabetes. But this is not so, all useful trace elements do not have a detrimental effect on the glycemic index of dishes prepared from vegetables, that is, diabetics can eat it. But those who are definitely not allowed are those who suffer from kidney stones.

And people with healthy kidneys are advised not to get too carried away with eating sweet potatoes, as they can contribute to the formation of kidney stones. In any case, you should consult a specialist before introducing various varieties of sweet potatoes into your diet.

Growing sweet potatoes

Strong tubers

If you have already purchased exotic potato seeds, then you can easily grow such a vegetable in your area. Even in the climate typical of our middle zone, with a strong desire, you can grow any of the varieties of exotic root crops. Although the growing season is active, it still forms strong tubers suitable for storage (they can be stored for up to six months).

Potatoes prefer warm weather, and sprouts come to the surface much longer than potatoes - for this reason, in our regions it is grown using seedlings. The end of January or the deadline of mid-February is the time for seedling preparation.

Growing seedlings

It is necessary to select the healthiest tubers with intact skin and place them in a bright place, providing them with constant access to water (for this you can use the same method that we use when we want green onion feathers). When the plant forms the first shoots and they stretch 10-25 cm, they must be carefully separated from the main tuber and planted in separate pots.

Please note that only peat pots should be used. The height of the planting pots should be at least 15 cm. A mixture for growing a plant, you need sand-humus. This mixture is required for the potatoes to take root properly. The tuber that you will use for germinating children should not be thrown away. Such a tuber can give new shoots more than once.

Planting seedlings in open ground

Planting young plants in the ground should be carried out when the soil warms up very well, much stronger than for ordinary potatoes. For planting in open ground, it is necessary that the ground warms up to at least 18-20 C. Cuttings during planting must be deepened by two internodes.

Don't save space as the sweet potatoes have to grow somewhere. The minimum distance between the cuttings should be 30 cm (you can leave 50 cm), and between the rows there should be at least 70-80 cm.

Complete care

In the first 40-60 days after planting, the sweet potato should be watered well. Despite the fact that the plant is resistant to heat and drying out of the soil, a meager harvest can be obtained without watering during this period. With the development and growth of an exotic vegetable, watering is carried out with regularity 2-3 times a month. As a care for young plantings, it is recommended to loosen the soil 2-3 times a week, since sweet potatoes need soil that is good for air and moisture. You should also regularly weed your plantings.

If suddenly it gets colder outside and the air temperature has dropped below 20 C, then the plantings need to be covered with a special covering material, such as agrofibre. If there is no such material, then you can use improvised means, such as: boards, plywood, plastic wrap.If the plantings are not covered, the harvest can be very poor. To prevent the tubers from spoiling, it is recommended to stop watering 15 days before the expected date of harvest.

Harvesting and storage

Many gardeners are wondering when to start harvesting sweet potatoes? As soon as you notice that the above-ground part of the bushes has come down from the first frost, dig up your crop immediately. It is advisable to have time to collect the tubers while the weather is still relatively warm, so that the fruits do not freeze. Unfortunately, the skin on the tubers is simply damaged by tools during harvesting, and this will affect the keeping quality in the future, because the damaged fruits rot.

If you notice that you accidentally scratched the tuber, then these fruits can be treated. To do this, put the crop in bags with holes for ventilation and keep it that way for 7-10 days. Open the sweet potato bags every day to let the fruit air out. After this time, you will notice how the skin on the damaged tubers begins to grow together and take on a normal appearance. After the damage is eliminated, the root crop will be ready to go for long-term storage.

Cooking sweet potato dishes

Lots of sweets from the trampoline

The sweet potato for cooking is considered a universal product. You can assemble a whole table from it - from appetizer to dessert. Even the Aztecs knew that this root vegetable can be consumed raw, boiled and fried. Celebrity chefs around the world have already prepared a wide variety of sweet potato dishes.

Batata appetizer

An appetizer is made elementary: raw, finely chopped tuber, seasoned with finely chopped garlic onions, herbs, chili peppers to your liking - and poured with oil. Instead of butter, you can use sour cream sauce or mayonnaise with the addition of something oxidizing (such as lemon juice).

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet potato soup is cooked in the same way as from ordinary potatoes - on the basis of any broth. The only thing that can be confusing here is the sweet taste, in this case you need to pick up a vegetable variety in which it is not so pronounced. And the sweetness can be neutralized by adding herbs and spices (ground pepper, hot curry) to the soup. If you like the sweet taste of the fruit, you can skip the spices to get the true sweet potato flavor. Serving this soup is recommended hot.

Donuts

Sweet potatoes are perfect for desserts. Traditional Korean donuts can be baked. To do this, you need to cook so many fruits so that in a peeled and crumpled form you get 350 grams of pulp. Add to the pulp 2 cups of rice flour and 1/3 cup of plain, wheat flour, then 1/3 cup of sugar, pour all this with a glass of hot milk. Add a teaspoon of salt and half a spoonful of baking powder. We knead thoroughly all the resulting consistency, roll up the balls, which we deep-fry until a pleasant ruddy color. The finished donuts need to be dried from the oil with a cotton napkin. After the donuts have cooled slightly, sprinkle them with powdered sugar mixed with cinnamon.

Potato boats

Another original recipe is sweet potato boats. To prepare boats, you need to steam the vegetable so that it does not boil over. The tubers should be divided in half along their length, carefully select part of the pulp from the middle and puree it with the addition of egg yolks, milk, butter and honey. The finished mixture must be poured into the resulting boats and placed in a well-preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Halva

If you like the taste of sweet potato and want a dessert from it with you, but does not require constant cooking, then just make homemade halva out of it.

To make halva you will need

• 2 potatoes
• 1/2 cup peeled walnuts and sugar
• 200 grams of butter
• 1 tbsp raisins, peeled almonds and milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom

The fruits should be well washed, peeled and grated on a fine grater.Then take a deep frying pan and heat a little on it. Pour sugar into the pan and stir thoroughly. Then add milk, cardamom and nuts, mix all this as well as possible and stirring continuously, cook over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Next, add the grated tubers and stir again so that the mass is homogeneous, and cook until the mass begins to noticeably lag behind the walls of the dishes. Ready halva can be served, garnished with raisins and half almonds on top. You can eat it both warm and cold.