Sarkarai Valli Kizhangu

The Sweet Potato is one of those vegetables that is really easy to grow. Simply plug a 20-centimeter-long piece of the vine into damp soil, leaving about one eighth of it exposed for leaves to shoot out. After 5 months the tubers are ready to harvest.

In our region, Sweet Potato vines are generally planted before the monsoon, and they grow through the heavy rains and begin having large enough tubers before it gets really hot in February and March.

So many dishes can be made with Sweet potato: chips, mash, cutlets, soups, curries and so on. It can even be grated raw in a salad. The leaves of the sweet potato are also good to eat. They can be used in stir fries, chutneys and salads.

Sweet potatoes are high in vitamins A and C, fiber, potassium, and iron (whose absorption is facilitated by the presence of vitamin C).

The Sweet Potato is a good example of local foods; it grows easily, is tasty, high in nutritional medicinal values and has no ecological cost unlike potatoes which generate a high carbon footprint.