Sweet Potato Leaves
September 4th, 2008 · 12 Comments · Posted in Uncategorized
Every once in a while you learn something about the plant kingdom that makes you stop and think, I need to grow that.
So it was with sweet potato leaves, or when I learned that sweet potato leaves are edible. At the time, I did nothing about it. But on a recent visit to One Straw Farm in Baltimore County, owner Joan Norman mentioned that she had been selling sweet potato leaves in the farmers market. She said she had heard about them at an agriculture conference from a man from Africa.
Suddenly I was not only glad I had planted sweet potatoes, but made a priority of finding some way of working the leaves onto our dinner table. The occasion finally arrived last week when I struggled to find something green in the garden to put in our newest most favorite dish, curried okra. We’re still harvesting okra on an almost daily basis and this stew with coconut milk, tomatoes and potatoes (basically, anything we can forage from the garden) proved to be a perfect place to use some of the Tuscan kale we were growing.
Well, the kale is gone, but it turns out sweet potato leaves work even better . They have a mild but dense flavor that reminds me a little of purslane. They stand up very well to cooking, maintaining their dark green color and a pleasantly easy texture. As a bonus, the leaves are a good source of vitamins A and C. And like purslane, they can be eaten raw.
Being a vine, the sweet potato plant produces a prodigious amount of leaves in addition to the tasty tuber we’ll be harvesting later. At one time I was cursing our sweet potatoes for escaping their bed and traveling all over the yard where I needed to mow. They’ve climbed up, over and around the tomato cages. Now I’m cheering them on. I say, give us all the leaves you want.
If you are making the okra stew I posted about recently, just add a heaping cup (or two) or sweet potato leaves cut into a chiffonade instead of the kale originally called for. And if you planted sweet potatoes, be happy knowing that you have an almost endless supply of nutritious leaves.
Well, you learn something new everyday, if it’s a good day. Thanks for this bit of information on sweet potato leaves. They have never been my favorite vegetable. But this news certainly makes them more admirable as garden residents.
I love the sound of your okra stew too. I may just consider growing some okra next year.
Thanks!
Really? That’s exciting news, Ed… thanks for sharing. I might have to consider planting sweet potatoes next year… SOMEWHERE…
(I keep wanting to try your kohlrabi gratin, but my CSA basket hasn’t had kohlrabi in a while. Might have to save the recipe for next year…)
Ok, so this has nothing to do with this particular post, but I just stumbled across your one for “Hungarian Sun Pickles”. They are the BEST pickles EVER. My family makes them every summer. (my mom’s family is hungarian – her parents came here just before the war.) anyway… I’m so glad you like them! Alot of people do not like them at all. my husband calls them Stink Pickles (and not in a good way). I cannot for the life of me remember how to spell their name in Hungarian, but it is pronounced like this:
Koo-vosh-osh-oo-bor-ka
They are SOOO good! In fact – I had one with lunch today!
any danger of harming the plant? How many leaves can you take per plant?
Kate, the leaves are an added bonus to a tuber that I already love. I know, sweet potatoes can be off-putting when prepared in the usual over-sweetened ways. Try the sweet potato salad that I’ve previously posted here, with toasted pecans and orange-maple dressing.
Jennifer, I know kohlrabi is not always so easy to find. But if people start asking for it, maybe farmers will take notice. Try using fresh turnip as a substitute in the gratin.
Kate, you are dead on about the Hungarian sun pickles. In “Pickled,” the reference book whence I have replicated the recipe, they are called Uizes Uburka. In addition to the usual briny flavor, they have a yeasty taste, which may be what some people object to. The rest of us love it.
Mark, I have not seen any studies documenting exactly how many leaves can safely be removed from the sweet potato plant. My guess would be about half before the tuber production waned, but you would never be able to eat that many. From my experience, sweet potatoes are incredibly tenacious and simply grow more leaves at a rapid pace.
Wow! I grow a slew of sweet potatoes every year. I had no idea the leaves were edible. I’m so excited! I’m gonna cook some tonight.
I wouldn’t worry about taking too many leaves either. Earlier this year I had some critter or other (deer?) eat almost every single leaf off my sweet potato plot. It barely seemed to slow the growth at all.
Mr. T, deer love sweet potato leaves. They will eat the plant down to the nub, and the sweet potato will just continue growing. However, with all its energy focused on generating more leaves, it has hardly any left over for making potatoes.
Thank you so much for this post. I am growing sweet potatoes for the first time. I have TONS of leaves! It would be a shame not to do something with them. I can’t wait to try them!
I have had the pleasure of eating “Potato Leaf,” which is a West African Stew with the leaves, hot peppers, etc. added. Great served over rice. I think they taste a bit like collards, but I am a southern girl. 🙂
I lived in West Africa (Liberia) for four years. There were two basic kinds of greens eaten there: cassava leaf and potato greens. Cassava leaf took an enormous amount of processing to make it edible. Sweet potato leaf was cooked just like spinach, with a little meat or fish (and LOTS of palm oil and hot pepper) and served over rice. It was/is my all-time favorite Liberian dish.
Peace & Chuck, thanks for those African perspectives. I'd like to know more about how sweet potato leaves are prepared in that part of the world.
Sigh. I planted sweet potatoes, a large patch, because I’d heard some Chinese acquaintances talk about how tasty the greens are. I’ve made maybe two or three dishes with them and just plain didn’t like them. If I picked them small they were too soft, insubstantial, and mild-flavored. If I picked them big they were stringy. In my quest for summer greens here in Florida, I’ve also learned that my desire to eat amaranth is a bit limited as well. I suppose it just makes me appreciate our long cool season from November to March, for collards, mustards, kale, chard, and beets.