Of the offerings on the typical Thanksgiving table, sweet potatoes are the healthiest – unless, of course, Aunt Maple buried them under sugar and marshmallows so the potatoes were an afterthought.
Abundant this time of year, the gnarly, brightly colored roots lend an earthy air to any autumn menu. Note the term “root.” Sweet potatoes are not potatoes at all, and they’re not yams, though the bright-orange varieties are called that. True sweet potatoes are roots related to morning glories that hail from South America. True yams are tubers, like potatoes, and hail from the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
Sweet potatoes are available year round for healthy eating from southern states like Louisiana, Texas and North Carolina. But most people think sweet potatoes in the fall, conceded Paul Krautmann, a farmer in Cedar Hill. He prefers they think local too, since he and other area farmers offer the freshest produce. Each fall, he churns out a ton (literally) of sweets, selling a good amount at the Maplewood and Clayton farmers’ markets. Whatever’s left he sells on his farm.
For the last 12 years, he, his wife, Nancy, and their three children have grown a variety of organic produce to meet area vegetable needs. Not long ago, he ran a subscription service; now he specializes in grains and atypical crops, like black beans, black soybeans and such. But sweet potatoes are a mainstay and consistently prove easy to grow, he said, adding that Missouri lies within acceptable sweet potato climate.
The family’s primary cook, Krautmann likes using sweet potatoes in desserts and savory side dishes. For a side dish, he cuts up sweet potato chunks, tosses them with oil, chipotle powder and pieces (which he grows too), coriander and fresh garlic and bakes the lot for 30 to 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
For sweeter fare, he cuts up sweet potato chunks with apples, particularly Jonathans, adds brown sugar and butter and sprinkles on cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and such. He cooks it in a casserole, same as the savory side dish.
Trained as an industrial educator and a fine woodworker, Krautmann welcomes the chance to speak on organic farming. Off and on, he teaches classes on the subject at Jefferson College. To arrange to pick up sweet potatoes at his farm, call Krautmann at 636.274.7236. The drive outside of Cedar Hill is lovely, and his farm is ruggedly beautiful.
Going out of the way for fresh sweet potatoes is worth it, just for health reasons alone. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest rated the nutritional value of sweet potatoes with all other vegetables, considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. The simple sweet potato came out on top.
Proclaiming the sweet potato’s merits, Dr. Robert Cordell, emeritus professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, said people should eat more sweets to ward off a host of ills, like cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and diabetes. Explaining the health tie-ins on the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission’s Web site, he said antioxidants in sweet potatoes help neutralize free radicals, which damage cells. Vitamin E in the orange roots maintains good cholesterol, prevents blood clots and boosts memory function. Sweet potatoes are low in glycemic levels, unlike potatoes.
Deborah Zorensky, a clinical nutritionist in Webster Groves, agreed that sweet potatoes are a must in a healthy diet plan. Expanding on Cordell’s facts, she stressed that a sweet potato alone provides half the recommended daily allowance of beta carotene, the safe carrier of vitamin A. Vitamin A is toxic in high doses, since it’s fat soluble. Beta carotene, on the other hand, is stored in the epithelial cells surrounding organs. Released slowly, beta carotene blocks free radicals, she said.
Zorensky, like Krautmann, eats sweet potatoes all year long, not only around Thanksgiving. She especially likes to bake sweet potato pieces drizzled with maple syrup.
Children usually love sweet potatoes, since they’re naturally sweet, she said.
As you eat Aunt Maple’s marshmallow dish, remember sweet potatoes have been held in high esteem throughout history: American Indians used them as a staple before Christopher Columbus arrived, George Washington grew them at Mount Vernon and George Washington Carver developed 118 products from them in his laboratory.
This article appears in March 2024.