Fun Facts About Sweet Potato
- The sweet potato is not a potato or even a distant cousin. Potatoes are tubers and sweet potatoes are roots.
- A root is actually a root of the plant whereas a tuber, although it grows underground, is a part of the stem of the plant (that grows underground).
- The inside of a sweet potato is orange which tells us that sweet potatoes are full of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene comes from plants and changes into vitamin A when you eat it.
- Sweet potatoes have lots of vitamin A. It would take 23 cups of broccoli to provide the same amount of vitamin A as in one medium sweet potato.
- One of the many things vitamin A does for you is help your body grow normally.
- Sweet potatoes also have iron. Iron is an important mineral for your body. When you do not get enough iron from the foods you eat, you might feel more tired than usual.
- The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CPI) has ranked sweet potatoes as the No. 1 most nutritious vegetable.
- When Christopher Columbus landed on America’s shores in 1492, the Native Americans were growing sweet potatoes. Columbus and his men loved the tasty sweet potatoes so much that they brought them back to Europe to grow their own.
- Native Americans called sweet potatoes batatas. The Pilgrims and Native Americans ate sweet potatoes at the first Thanksgiving feast. Do you eat sweet potatoes at your Thanksgiving dinner?
What’s Included in the Sweet Potato Lesson Plan
- History
- Tips & recipes
- Nutritional information
- Presenter outline & talking points
- Sticker template
- PowerPoint presentation
- Student handouts
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