Vol. 8, Issue 6 (2019)

Author(s):
Namrata Ankush Giri and BK Sakhale

Abstract:
Tropical root and tuber crops play vital role in food security, nutrition and climate change adaptation. Root and tuber crops are essential components of diet in many countries. Tropical tuber crops comprise of major and minor (underexploited) plant species. Sweet potato is one of the nutritious, healthy and underutilized tropical tuber crops whose significance as a food is getting less. The importance of sweet potato tubers as a health food is realized now due to its nutritional composition having low glycemic index as an additional health benefits for diabetics. It is used as a new ingredient for development of gluten free products. A number of value added food products are being developed using sweet potato with functional ingredients. Sweet potato tubers could be processed into different primary products such as flour, chips, puree etc and secondary products like biscuits, pasta, noodles etc. The present article discussed about the potential benefits of sweet potato as a miracle and promising food crop.