Sweet Potatoes are a Healthy and Versatile Veggie – Perfect for the Fall Season, and Fall Dishes

With their wonderfully warm orange and deeply hued purple colors, sweet potatoes — perhaps the healthiest type of potatoes — are a fantastic fall vegetable to add to your meals.

Did you know…?

The longest lived people in the world, the traditional Okinawans, get more than 50% of their daily calories from sweet potatoes. A 2009 paper published in The Journal of the American College of Nutrition attributes much of the Okinawan people’s low rates of disease and longer life expectancy to their nutritionally dense diet, including their high intake of sweet potatoes.

Not only are Okinawan sweet potatoes healthy, but they’re pretty, too. These humble root veggies are notable for their brilliant, purple colored flesh, which indicates that they are very high in antioxidants, particularly the antioxidant known as anthocyanin. This is the same pigment that gives blueberries, red grapes, and red cabbage their color… and their amazing antioxidant power.

Looking purely at the nutritional factors, sweet potatoes have anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory properties. A trifecta of health benefits!  All varieties of sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins A, C, B6, B5, potassium, and manganese. They are also a good source of copper, dietary fiber, and iron. And all varieties of sweet potatoes have been shown to improve blood sugar regulation and to have important antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Sweet potatoes are semi-tropical plants that grow in relatively balmy climates around the world. In the U.S., they typically grow in warmer states, such as North Carolina, Mississippi, California, and Tennessee.  If you buy and take some home, you need to store sweet potatoes in a cool, dark place (but not the fridge because chilling them can lead to a hard center and unpleasant taste), and aim to use them within three to five weeks.

Want some mouthwatering recipes featuring sweet potatoes? Here are a veritable cornucopia of ideas from Country Living, Delish.com, and Bon Appetit to get you well on your way to Sweet Potato Goodness.

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Photo Credit:  mama_mia / Shutterstock.com