Zimbabwe Makes Delicacies from Sweet Potatoes

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 05, 2002

Zimbabwe Makes Delicacies from Sweet Potatoes

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University of Zimbabwe researchers have made history by improvising and making delicacies such as French fries, bread, and drink from sweet potatoes, according to the Zimbabwe Inter Africa News Agency on Thursday.

The breakthrough has been achieved by Tunga Rukuni and Miss Angeline Murungamiri as well as fellow colleagues in the Faculty of Agriculture in the university.

They mooted the idea by demystifying the popular tradition of making French fries, wheat bread, and fruit juices by proffering alternatives using sweet potatoes.

The process of deep-frying is the same as in the process of making French fries, but the only new element is the sweet potatoes.

"You will be amazed what we can do with sweet potatoes," said Rukuni, an executive of the Development Technology Center. "We canmake chips, bread cakes, sweet potato ketchup and even jam."

To make these delicacies, they slice sweet potatoes and dry them using solar dryers and then grinding them into powder. This powder is then processed into cakes and drink.

Project leader Miss Mutungamiri said a bakery in Chinhoyi helped them with facilities to make the sweet potato bread.

She said this would go a long way in providing an alternative to the nation, which is continually facing shortages of wheat.

"Sweet potatoes, when processed into flour, can make a wide range of foods and this is what we need in the country," she said.

"Besides making up for the shortage of wheat in the country, they say variety is the spice of life," she said.

Plans are underway to make the products available to rest of the country.

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