How does sweet potato grows?
Sweet potatoes are among the easiest of the Convolvulaceae (potato) family to grow. They love tropical climates with sandy soil, plenty of light because they aren’t fans of the cold or wet. Sweet potato vines aren’t fussy - they’ll spread along the ground up to 13 feet or cascade out of your containers as far as they can stretch. They’re lush leaves add a decorative pop of colour to your garden and you’ll reap the rewards with homegrown sweet potatoes in around 100 days.
If you want to grow your own at home simply place half an organic sweet potato in water and leave indoors in a sunny spot and in a couple of weeks you’ll have vines everywhere!
How to cook Sweet Potato leaves
When it comes to cooking sweet potato leaves, treat them like other dark leafy greens. Here are a couple of ways that you can cook with them:
- Raw: just like any dark leafy green you can add them to your salads
- Sauteed: roughly chop them up and sauté them with some butter and garlic
- Boiled: boiling sweet potato vine leaves will help remove their bitterness.
- Juiced: add them into your daily juice for a vitamin kick.
Here is a collection of our favourite sweet potato recipes.
Health benefits of sweet potato leaves
Not only are sweet potato vines low in calories with just 12 calories per cup, but they are a great source of numerous fibre, antioxidants, essential vitamins A, B, C, D, E and K and minerals like niacin, thiamine and beta carotene.
Fibre: sweet potato leaves are full of fibre which helps regulate your bowel movements and gastrointestinal tract.
Inflammation: they’re also high in beta carotene which is a natural anti-inflammatory.
Bone Health: Vitamin K (which sweet potato vines are high in) helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis and hip fractures.
