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Sweet Potato
From Wikibooks, the
open-content textbooks collection
The sweet potato (kumara
in NZ) is tuber-producing plant related to the morning
glory. The flesh of the tuber can be white, yellow,
orange, or purple. Sweet potatoes are often confused with potatoes
and yams,
which are not the same at all.
Sweet potatoes are rich
in dietary fiber, vitamin C and vitamin B6. The orange
ones are also rich in beta-carotene. In tropical areas
they are a staple food crop. The tubers are most
frequently boiled, fried or baked. Tubers can also be
processed to make starch and a partial flour
substitute.
The tubers, leaves and
shoots are all edible. Some variants are sold as house
plants for their beautiful flowers; these plants will
produce sweet potatoes. The plants tend to be large vines.
Farmers in the Southern
United States started using the term "yam" to
distinguish between the softer orange variety and the
drier white variety. The true yam is rarely found in the
United States except as an import. Sweet potatoes sold in
the USA must be labeled "yam sweet potato" or
simply "sweet potato", not "yam"; they
may be incorrectly labeled in stores though.
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