11 Recipes Featuring Japanese Sweet Potatoes, a Staple for Some of the Longest-Living People in the World (2024)

FAQs

What is Japanese sweet potato used for? ›

Japanese sweet potatoes can be swapped in for orange-fleshed sweet potatoes in just about any recipe or application, such as steaming, boiling, roasting, frying, mashing, and pureeing. They make excellent sweet potato fries and bake up well whole or incorporated into casseroles and gratins.

Introduction of Satsuma Imo (Sweet Potato) to Japan

This sweet potato is not native to Japan. Originally it came from Central South America. Then in 1605, it came to Ryukyu island (Modern day Okinawa ) from Philippines by way of the China. About 100 years later, in 1705, it started to spread widely in Kagoshima.

Purple sweet potatoes have contributed to the longevity of people in Okinawa, Japan, Dan Buettner says. One of the most visually striking recipes in the book is made from purple sweet potatoes, which Buettner considers a key longevity staple for people in the blue zone of Okinawa.

Sweet potatoes, which originated in Central or South America, were first cultivated in Peru, perhaps as early as 2500 BCE. Columbus took the plant home with him in the late 15th century, after which it spread around the world. The exception to this timeline, as we mentioned earlier, is Polynesia.

We eat the skin of Japanese sweet potatoes. That's why it's important to scrub and wash the sweet potatoes well before you bake them. Of course, you can peel it before you eat, but don't forget that the skin has plenty of nutrients!

Are Japanese sweet potatoes healthier than regular sweet potatoes? All varieties of sweet potatoes are good for you but these purple-skin tubers do have higher concentrations of specific vitamins and nutrients.

Capable of growing even in poor or depleted soils and highly nutritious to boot, sweet potatoes have proven time and again to be a key source of nutrients whenever Japan has been hit by food shortages. Sweet potatoes with reddish-purple skin and yellow flesh are the most widespread varieties in Japan.

"The greenish colour can be due to a natural occurrence, when the water soluble pigments in the cooked sweet potatoes are exposed to air," AVA said. "If the cooked sweet potatoes are handled and stored properly, they should not pose a food safety concern."

Why are ube and Okinawan sweet potatoes both so purple? Their purple coloring actually comes from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants which help to guard against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Just one sweet potato gives you 102% of the vitamin A you need each day. This helps keep your eyes healthy as well as your immune system, your body's defense against germs. It's also good for your reproductive system and organs like your heart and kidneys.

What happens if you eat sweet potato everyday? ›

If you enjoy sweet potatoes, you can absolutely enjoy them daily. However, eating multiple sweet potatoes every day could cause a harmless condition called carotenodermia, where your skin turns yellow-orange. You may also want to be cautious about your sweet potato intake if you have a history of kidney stones.

A balanced diet of survival food will ensure that your body is getting all the protein, carbs, minerals, and vitamins it requires to remain healthy. If you could only select five foods to survive on, potatoes, kale, trail mix, grains, and beans would get you pretty far.

Native Americans were already growing sweet potatoes when Columbus arrived on America's shores in 1492. The sweet potato is not a potato, not even a distant cousin. Potatoes are tubers; sweet potatoes are roots. Sweet potatoes have been growing in the South since as early as 1648.

Sweet potatoes are planted in the spring and harvested in the fall. Sweet potatoes are great sources of vitamin A, vitamin C, beta carotene, fiber and potassium. Sweet potatoes can be white, yellow, red, purple or orange. The orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are sweeter than the other varieties.

Sweet potatoes can be baked, steamed, boiled, microwaved, fried, juiced, pureed, and eaten raw. Sweet potatoes are an excellent way to eat healthy! Sweet potatoes have unique health benefits; they are packed with nutrients such as potassium, iron, and vitamin B-6. They are fat-free and cholesterol-free.

One thing that makes this sweet potato different from the American variety is its appearance; it has red-purple skin and a pale interior. Whereas the American sweet potato is slightly stringy, the Japanese sweet potato's fluffiness comes from its higher starch content.

I'm just going to say it. Japanese sweet potatoes are better than regular sweet potatoes. They have a firmer flesh, a nuttier taste to them and they just taste better overall. And when you slather these grilled Japanese sweet potatoes with miso butter, you're in for a real treat!

They taste like buttery chestnuts, and when you bake them their interiors get so fluffy, thanks to less moisture, they taste like a cross between a white Russet and an orange Beauregard — and somehow more appealing than either.