Sweet Potato: The health powerhouse

A favourite winter snack, the sweet potato has a variety of health benefits

- Chinmay Raval

When the days grow short, darkness falls early, and you hurry home along the familiar city lanes... then comes that evocative scent, and you see the coals glowing as the ratalu-wala gets ready to dish out the roasted winter snack that's popular practically all over India. Whether you call it shakarkand (Hindi), ratalu (Marathi/Gujarati) or kananga (Kannada), the sweet potato is probably one of the few root vegetables that's sold as a street snack with very little add-ons. Just a sprinkling of chaat masala and maybe lime juice, and you have a tasty, filling bite to go.

It's a good choice to make, as you'd find it hard to get a healthier snack. The sweet potato is a nutritious and versatile root vegetable, and has been a staple crop for thousands of years, providing essential nutrients and energy to countless cultures. In recent years, sweet potatoes have gained recognition for their impressive nutritional profile, making them an excellent addition to a healthy diet.