Sweet Potatoes

Let him think he is right....I have served sweet potatoes along with mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes by themselves as a potato. I have never thought of a sweet potatoes as a vegetable even tho they are.

In a restaurant, when you have a choice of two or three vegetables, sweet potatoes are listed as a vegetable as are mashed potatoes. But I wouldn't usually ored both on same plate. My late husband did....man thing?

I had a sister in law that thought it wasn't a fancy dinner unless you had 2 kinds of potatoes!

Tripalot wrote:
We are having a disagreement in our house - looking for a referee.
I say you serve sweet potatoes as an alternative to regular potatoes cooked anyway you prefer.. DH says sweet potatoes are a vegetable that you serve along with regular potatoes. This is what his mother did - so therefore must be right!

Who is right? Sweet potatoes - vegetable or potato? ? ?

The Boston Globe wrote:
Potatoes have fallen from grace in recent years, as health authorities have argued that starch-filled spuds shouldn’t be counted as a vegetable in the diet. The USDA recently proposed reducing the amount of potatoes served in school lunchrooms. But the attack on potatoes leaves some confusion: Should sweet potatoes and other tubers and roots also be lumped into this category?

Linda Antinoro, a registered dietitian at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, says that when evaluating meals, she and her colleagues consider both the potato and sweet potato to be starches. Like white potatoes, sweet potatoes have a high amount of starch — an abundant carbohydrate found in all kinds of plants — compared to other vegetables, which means that a portion of sweet potatoes has about triple the calories of a similar volume of carrots or other vegetable.

However, Antinoro adds, “we would encourage people to eat a sweet potato rather than other starches.’’ By replacing your white potato, rice, pasta, or bread with a sweet potato, you’re adding a whopping dose of beta-carotene, as well as vitamin C, potassium, and other vitamins and minerals.

If you eat sweet potatoes with their skins, you also get a lot of fiber, which can help keep blood sugar levels from spiking after a meal and may also discourage overeating by contributing a sense of fullness. The American Diabetes Association lists sweet potatoes as one of 10 “superfoods,’’ which carry a high nutrition content without sending blood sugar soaring. While it’s not true that the skin contains most of the vitamins and minerals, it contains a large portion of their fiber.

For large gatherings I used to serve a sweet tater dish (mostly yams pureed with an equal amt of cold "buttah"; pure decadency) and white potatoes served however just as my mother and grandmothers did but nowadays, I replace a cauliflower dish for the white taters more often than not.

HTH!

along with...(was that also the question?)

We are having a disagreement in our house - looking for a referee.
I say you serve sweet potatoes as an alternative to regular potatoes cooked anyway you prefer.. DH says sweet potatoes are a vegetable that you serve along with regular potatoes. This is what his mother did - so therefore must be right!
Who is right? Sweet potatoes - vegetable or potato? ? ?

:H What disagreement? Save your marriage go right to the books.

Science has already determined what they are!

Horticulturally they are a sweet "potato".
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. ...

HOW you serve them on a plate and next to what is up to you. And how to spell them, well, ask Dan Quail about that! :B

We had them for Christmas dinner (yum) along with mashed whites, DW mashed them and covered with dried cranberries and crushed walnuts.

We, also, had them for Christmas dinner. We mashed them with carrots and they were great!
btw, What is the difference between a sweet potato and a yam? They both taste roughly the same.

The terms YAM & Sweet Potato are US marketing ploys.

'Yam' is the Soft version---orange flesh
'Sweet Potato' is the Firm Version

YAM and Sweet Potato have NOTHING in to do with Potatoes ----different plants/different tubers
Sweet Potatoes are related to Morning Glories







TRUE YAMS are very difficult to find and are imported ---can be found in 'ethic' grocery stores
True YAMS are related to palms and grasses



SO....
If you want to serve Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes together go ahead.
If you want to serve Sweet Potatoes instead of Potatoes go ahead.
OR Potatoes instead of Sweet Potatoes go ahead

But they ARE different so Hubby's MOM is correct

I thought they all grow them in Idaho for "ethical" reason?"

Although you will find them in grocery stores selling ethnic produce. :)

Happy New Year!!!

I'm with you, except during the holidays, when we serve mashed potatoes to go with that delicious turkey or roast gravy AND sweet potatoes with marshmallows and Brussels sprouts and green beans, I either cook white potatoes, or sweet potatoes and consider sweets a starch, not a veggie.