I recently got a juicer, and I just love it! However, I found the "instruction" and recipe book to be a bit lacking. Why would anyone put in seaweed yet leave out such common items (and healthy!!) as sweet potatoes & squashes? I felt pretty safe with the squashes, juiced those pesky Patty Pans that were out there too long to cut or do anything else with, and we feel just fine 2 weeks later. However, I am a bit more cautious about the sweet potatoes. I know they are unrelated to Solanum, but I don't really know anything about them. They do make nice baby food: run through the juicer, add half the pulp back, mix well and can as normally would (less cooking, faster too with a very nice smooth consistency). Does anyone know if they are toxic to consume raw? (A final thing about the baby food: It looked so good I mixed a 1/2 pt in with a potato salad, for the flavor, texture and nutrients. It tasted really good although it looked weird. Creamy pale orange reminded me too much of my old days back in the micro lab. I wouldn't exactly take it to parties. I also thought I might try this puree in soup/stew gravies to thicken them, & add to the nutrient properties.) Thanks! Helen Schesniak, P.O. Box 494, Crivitz, WI 54114

-- Helen Schesniak (applebake@cybrzn.com), February 10, 2001

Answers

Helen, my juicing book points out that sweet potatoes aren't in the solanaceae family, but are of the morning glory family and are completely safe to juice raw. Says the are exceptionally rich in carotenes, the darker the variety the higher the concentration. They are also rich in vitamin C, calcium, and potassium. The author's favorite recipe follows:

Better Red Than Dead

1 beet, including top 1/2 medium-size sweet potato, cut into strips 3 carrots

Juice the beet first, then the sweet potato strips, the the carrots.

BTW, this comes from the Complete Book of Juicing, by Michael T. Murray, N.D. There are lots of tasty recipes in it. I have a Champion juicer and this book is much handier and more complete than the one that came with it.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), February 10, 2001.

Helen: I don't know squat about the juicer side, but you certainly can eat them raw. A former co-worker always brought sweetpotato chips (raw) and dip to any functions we had. Lucky you! What type of juicer did you get? Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), February 10, 2001.

I'm having trouble finding a "tasty" vegetable mix. Anybody have some recipes to suggest. I am particularly interested in trying to duplicate V8 juice. Has anyone done it. Thanks.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), February 12, 2001.

Thank you so much for writing me! Now...is a sweet potato the same thing as a yam? I remember reading somewhere that they are not, that yams are more nutritious. My Gurney's catalog says sweet potatoes are "--called yams in the South--" (2000, p. 4). My Webster's Unabridged says sweet potatoes are "Ipomoea Batatas" while yams are given as "genus Dioscorea" and called sweet potato in the south. Are you pretty sure they are both safe? The juicer I got was a $70 Juiceman Jr from Wal-Mart; I also saw one at Fleet Farm for the same price. It has a coupon in it, if you keep the receipt & the UPC code off the box, that for $50 or so you can get the regular Juiceman by mail (they suggest you give the Jr model to a friend). It looked like a good deal but I am still experimenting with (torturing) the one I bought. The manual says don't put bananas or (peaches?) through it because they are too pulpy. I got bananas through them, no problem, by running oranges through it after. The bananas are neat: it's like a sludge creeping out...perhaps I am just losing a lot of banana needlessly by doing this. However, I do have a problem with oranges & grapefruits, the pulp piles up in the escape route & eventually plugs it, if I make more than 2 glasses at a time. V-8 juice? I haven't tried that with the juicer but I want to! I would think, 12 tomatoes, a small onion, 2 stalks celery & 2 carrots? I think the juicer would be a good way to make it but haven't tried it, no fresh tomatoes; but it would effectively remove the seeds (that is, if it does not simply plug up the little sieve) Thanks again... Helen

-- Helen Schesniak (applebake@cybrzn.com), February 12, 2001.