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How sweet it is.
Recently making a comeback as an ultra-healthy ingredient in adult diets, the sweet potato has been loved by moms and babies for its tasteful benefits for decades. Sweet potatoes are loaded with vitamins A and E, beta carotene, potassium, calcium, fiber, and foliate. In fact, the Nutrition Action Health Letter recently rated 58 vegetables for overall nutritional value. The winner? The sweet potato – by far – with raw carrots a very distant second. Sweet potatoes serve as the perfect introduction to one of baby’s first solid foods. They are perfect for gumming and chewing and are easy on your little one’s stomach and digestive tract.
Easy to prepare, easy to eat.
Easy to prepare and delicious for your baby to eat, the possibilities for sweet potato baby food recipes are virtually endless. Start by thoroughly washing the sweet potatoes after poking holes in the vegetable. Most moms say that baking sweet potatoes is the best way to bring out their natural sweetness and delicious flavor, while also retaining the most nutrients. Be sure to leave the skin on while baking, then scoop out the “meat” at the end of the baking process. Another popular option is to peel the skin and cube the sweet potatoes, then boil them. You may also choose to blend the sweet potatoes into a pureed mixture. Sweet potatoes are the perfect accompanying dish or mixture with apples, squash, peaches, green beans, chicken, beef, pork and many other foods. You will discover that sweet potatoes are as versatile as they are tasty for your baby!
Interesting sweet potato facts.
Sweet potatoes are a member of the Convolvulaceae family of plants. The first references to sweet potatoes were recorded more than 5,000 years ago and the first Europeans to discover sweet potatoes were members of Columbus’s expedition party to the New World in 1492. Even with the word “potato” in its name, sweet potatoes are only a very distant relative to the common potato. America produces nearly two billion tons of sweet potatoes annually and North Carolina is the leading U.S. grower of the vegetable. Vardaman, Mississippi claims to be “The Sweet Potato Capital” of the world.
Try one of these sweet potato recipes the next time you’re looking for a new recipe for your family or little one.
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