Sugars and Starches in a Non-Sweet Sweet Potato Compared to those of Conventional Cultivars

Abstract

Sweet potatoes that varied from a typical high suqar dessert through various degrees of sweet tropical type, and a new type of non-sweet staple were cooked by three methods, and sugar contents were compared with controls. Starch grain size was measured, and percent amylose was determined. Reducing power and intrinsic viscosity of extracted starches were determined to estimate molecular size and possible structure. Reducing sugar content increased on cooking except in one cultivar, the staple type "Ninety-nine". Low reducing power and high intrinsic viscosity might be indicative of a large, unbranched starch molecule.