29 Facts About Sweet potato

Sweet potato or sweetpotato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae.

Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors.

Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato, both being in the order Solanales.

The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato includes several garden flowers called morning glories, though that term is not usually extended to I batatas.

In Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Central America, and the Philippines, the sweet potato is known as camote, derived from the Nahuatl word camotli.

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Sweet potato was grown in Polynesia before Western exploration, generally spread by vine cuttings rather than by seeds.

Studies indicated that the sweet potato genome evolved over millennia, with eventual domestication of the crop taking advantage of natural genetic modifications.

Cultivar of the sweet potato called the boniato is grown in the Caribbean; its flesh is cream-colored, unlike the more common orange hue seen in other cultivars.

Sweet potato cultivars with dark orange flesh have more beta-carotene than those with light-colored flesh, and their increased cultivation is being encouraged in Africa where vitamin A deficiency is a serious health problem.

Sweet potato leaves are edible and can be prepared like spinach or turnip greens.

Starchy tuberous roots of the sweet potato are by far the most important product of the plant, although the leaves and shoots are edible.

Young leaves and vine tips of sweet potato leaves are widely consumed as a vegetable in West African countries, as well as in northeastern Uganda, East Africa.

In Egypt, sweet potato tubers are known as "batata" and are a common street food in winter, when street vendors with carts fitted with ovens sell them to people passing time by the Nile or the sea.

Sweet potato soup, served during winter, consists of boiling sweet potato in water with rock sugar and ginger.

Steamed and dried sweet potato is a delicacy from Liancheng County.

Sweet potato greens are a common side dish in Taiwanese cuisine, often boiled or sauteed and served with a garlic and soy sauce mixture, or simply salted before serving.

In some regions of India, sweet potato is roasted slowly over kitchen coals at night and eaten with some dressing, while the easier way in the south is simply boiling or pressure cooking before peeling, cubing and seasoning for a vegetable dish as part of the meal.

In some parts of India, fresh sweet potato is chipped, dried and then ground into flour; this is then mixed with wheat flour and baked into chapattis .

Between 15 and 20 percent of the sweet potato harvest is converted by some Indian communities into pickles and snack chips.

In Pakistan, sweet potato is known as shakarqandi and is cooked as a vegetable dish and with meat dishes .

Imo-gohan, sweet potato cooked with rice, is popular in Guangdong, Taiwan and Japan.

In Malaysia and Singapore, sweet potato is often cut into small cubes and cooked with taro and coconut milk to make a sweet dessert called "bubur cha cha".

Sweet potato is relatively easy to propagate, and in rural areas can be seen abundantly at canals and dikes.

Young sweet potato leaves are used as baby food, particularly in Southeast Asia and East Asia.

Sweet potato became a favorite food item of the French and Spanish settlers and thus continued a long history of cultivation in Louisiana.

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Sweet potato pie is a traditional favorite dish in Southern U S cuisine.

Sweet potato mash is served as a side dish, often at Thanksgiving dinner or with barbecue.

Sweet potato is used to make cakes or to eat roasted through the whole country.

Sweet potato chips are a commonly sold snack, be it on the street or in packaged foods.