The sweet potato, one product, two possibilities

The sweet potato, also called yum in the United States or camote in the Andes, belongs to the family Convolvulaceae like the morning glory, nightshade, or tasty water bindweed (also known as water potato). Native to tropical America, the sweet potato, or Ipomoea batatas, was probably domesticated between 4500 and 8000 BC, in Peru.

Its cultivation is recommended by NGOs for developing countries.

It was introduced to Europe by Christopher Columbus, cultivated extensively in southern Spain from the middle of the 16th century.and century. She arrives in the XVIIand century in China and Japan through Polynesia, then spread to the rest of Asia. In Oceania, the sweet potato has a very powerful symbolic status and mystical value in the eyes of the Maori people of New Zealand.

A creeping and climbing plant, it produces more or less elongated tubers, red, purple, beige or brown, with flesh that varies between white, orange and purple, depending on the variety. It likes heat, sun and water, but also adapts very well to arid conditions. An important food resource, less demanding than cereals, with vegetation that protects the soil from erosion, its cultivation is recommended by NGOs for developing countries.

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For its leaves

Tender and slightly sweet, sweet potato leaves and stems are eaten raw and cooked, unlike those of the potato which are toxic. Young shoots can be harvested from spring to autumn. Comparable to baby spinach, they mix well with other greens for a well-spiced salad.

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For its tubers

Boiled, roasted, fried, the sweet potato is a culinary staple in many cultures. Dried in the sun in India, it becomes flour. It is transformed into mash or fries to accompany festive dishes. Grilled and garnished with chimichurri (green sauce with parsley, lemon and chilli), with oyster mushrooms and feta, as at Le Passage restaurant in Paris, it replaces a meat dish, fragrant and moist as desired.

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