Name: Sweet Potato, Sweet Potato
Sweet Potato , Sweet Potato
Known only in culture – tropical and subtropical zones of the globe. It enters warm temperate zones. In the USSR (Turkmenistan) a variety has been bred from which 30-35 t/ha is harvested.
Perennial herbaceous vine with creeping longish (up to 5 m) stems, rooting at the nodes. The leaves are large and small, entire and palmately lobed. Flowers in leaf axils, corolla large, funnel-shaped, pinkish or white. The fruit is a 4-seed box.
Lateral roots strongly thicken and take the form of tubers. The flesh is white, pink or red. The starch content reaches 30%, sugar up to 6% (“sweet potato”). A lot of milky juice, there are tannins (you can not cut with an iron knife). These impurities do not interfere with the leaching of starch, and when tubers are boiled (like potatoes), it is destroyed.
The plant is starchy. starch plantsStarch is not a chemically individual substance. At 96-98% it consists of polysaccharides (amylase and amylopectin), accompanied by minerals, solid fatty acids, etc. Starch-bearing plants are conventionally divided into two groups: plants of the cereal family and plants of other families. Cereal starches serve as raw materials for the production of the main types of starch: wheat (Amylum Tritici), maize or corn (Amylum Maydis) and rice (Amylum Oryzae). From plants of other families, a lot of starch is obtained from potato tubers (Amylum Solani). In tropical countries, other varieties of starch are used; of these, the main ones are: – starch from sweet potato tubers – Amylum Batatae; – Australian arrowroot – Amylum Cannae; – Indian arrowroot – Amylum Curcumae; – Westind arrowroot – Amylum Marantae; – cassava (cassava, tapioca) – Amylum Manihot. Sago, or Amylum Sagi, is among the starches obtained from the core of the trunks of some palms. Sago and cassava are also popular dietary aids for convalescents.