Our Sweetest Sweet Potato Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What gives sweet potatoes their sweetness? ›

Why Are Sweet Potatoes Sweet? When you heat a sweet potato, an enzyme starts breaking down it's starch into a sugar called maltose. Maltose is made up of two glucose molecules bound together, and tastes about a third as sweet as regular table sugar, also known as sucrose.

Which sweet potato is the sweetest? Sweetest is subjective but relatively speaking, Garnets and Hannahs are mildly sweet. Purple and Jewels are moderately sweet and the Japanese variety tend to be the sweetest.

Baking can also cause an 80% drop in vitamin A levels, twice as much as boiling. Therefore, from a nutritional standpoint, boiling rather than baking should be recommended for cooking sweet potato.

Freezing also lowers the starting temperature of the potato, allowing more time for amylase enzymes to convert starch to sweet-tasting maltose. Starting the sweet potatoes in a cold oven further enhances sweetness via gradual heating, which stretches out the time spent in the “sweet spot” for enzymatic activity.

For a topping, stick to butter, Greek yogurt, or sour cream, or try adding a dollop of cilantro lime dressing, tzatziki, chipotle sauce, pesto, guacamole, or a drizzle of tahini sauce. If you have leftover baked sweet potatoes, save the soft flesh for another recipe.

Because of their fiber and vitamin contents, sweet potatoes are often considered the healthier choice between the two. Sweet potatoes are likely healthier than regular potatoes. They have a lower GI, more fiber, and large amounts of beta carotene.

So if you want a sweet, sweet potato, you have to cook it until it reaches 135–170°F (57–77°C). And you want to keep sweet potatoes in that range for as long as possible. That will maximize how sweet the potatoes taste.

You can still eat sweet potatoes if you have diabetes, assures Huff. The fiber content in sweet potatoes, especially if you consume them with the skin on, can help reduce spikes in your blood sugar. Plus, how you cook your sweet potatoes can also help reduce the extent to which your blood sugar rises.

“When potatoes begin to sprout, the growths have a high concentration of compounds called glycoalkaloids that can cause a sharp, unpleasant, bitter taste,” write BA staffer Antara Sinha and contributor Amiel Stanek.

THM: After sweet potatoes are harvested, they are cured in temperature-controlled barns for a few days to develop their sweetness and color. Sweet potatoes actually get sweeter with age and, if stored properly, can keep up to two weeks after purchasing.

Which color sweet potato is healthiest? ›

Sweet Potatoes and Health

Sweet potatoes with orange flesh are richest in beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes with purple flesh are richer in anthocyanins. Beta-carotene and anthocyanins are naturally occurring plant “phyto” chemicals that give vegetables their bright colors.

Sweet potatoes are nutritious, packing a good amount of vitamin A, vitamin C, and manganese into each serving. They also have anticancer properties and may promote immune function and other health benefits. Sweet potatoes are sweet, starchy root vegetables that are grown worldwide ( 1 ).

Whether they're mashed, baked, or boiled, sweet potatoes are fine for dogs to eat as long as they're cooked, peeled, and plain. Again, avoid any seasonings or extra ingredients that may be included in “human food” recipes, such as butter, sugar, or salt.

If you want the sweetest of sweet potatoes, that is where time comes in. Flavor improves with storage, as starch is converted to sugar. Let the roots dry in the sun until you can easily brush the soil off. Then cure by storing 10 to 14 days in a warm, humid place around 85 degrees.

According to Eating Well, all you need to do is to counter the sweetness with tanginess, and mixing in either buttermilk or sour cream is the best way to accomplish this. When you do this, the natural tangy flavor is able to tone down the sweetness without adding any saltiness in the process. Here's how it's done.

Sugar composition analysis of baked sweet potato tubers

Total sugar content, including fructose, sucrose, maltose, and glucose, was significantly increased after baking (Table 2).

You need to cure them after harvest for several reasons. First, curing allows any cuts, abrasions or bruises to heal which allows for better storability of roots. Second, curing is when the roots develop their flavors and starches are converted into sugars that give sweet potatoes their sweetness and flavor.