Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes make your Christmas memorable
For many, Christmas presents an opportunity to serve variety of meals to guests, friends and family to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
And for this Christmas, I introduce to you the Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes with the potential to perform wonders in your kitchen and make the birthday party for the Saviour a blast.
Though most potatoes in Ghana are brown or yellow fleshed, this variety, which is relatively new to the country as the name implies, appears in orange fleshed skin and is considered as having exceptionally high in Vitamin A.
Research has proven that the lack of Vitamin A in children between six to 59 months contributed to poor growth and development and increased risk of infection and visual problems.
In pregnant women, the lack of this vitamin could result in night blindness, miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and increased risks of deaths of mothers. Meanwhile the orange fleshed potato is the powerhouse of this Vitamin A.
Former UN Secretary General speaks on Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes
A former United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, and his wife, Nane, are collaborating with the International Potato Centre (CIP) to intensify a campaign on the consumption of sweet potatoes to improve the health of women and children under-five years.
The campaign, which is also intended to create wealth, is targeted at reaching at least 500,000 households in Ghana with resilient nutritious sweet potato by 2020.
The orange-fleshed sweet potato is said to be rich in beta carotene, a precursor of Vitamin A, which is critical to enhance children’s health and reduce blindness.
Benefits
Mr Issa Ouedraogo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Building Business on Value and Integrity, at an exhibition of the orange-fleshed sweet potato, said the regular use of the magic plant (the potato and its leaves) could enhance good vision, healthy skin, bone growth, improved immune system and normal sperm production.
Other benefits include protection against chronic diseases, aid in digestion and improved blood sugar.
Mr Ouedraogo said the orange fleshed potato had become very important to the Ghanaian farmer since it could be grown three times in a year which helps farmers to make more profit.
Mrs Beatrix Quarshie-Brown, the Regional Agriculture Officer in charge of Women in Agriculture, said the orange fleshed potatoes, commonly found in Uganda and Kenya, is low in sugar, high in fibre and could, therefore, be incorporated in any Ghanaian meal as a spice to healthy living.
So this Christmas, as you pick ingredients for meals, remember to buy some pieces of the orange fleshed potatoes to make your pastries, fruit juices, banku and ampesi. The leaves could also be used for tea, stews and salad.
By Mildred Siabi-Mensah
Source: GNA