Sweet potato confuses me

CurlyCockney

Could someone please explain how this works, as I've got an awful feeling I'm not logging enough calories.

I buy Asda Mini Sweet Potatoes, and the label says it's 34 kcal per 100g (boiled). The same brand of regular-sized sweet potatoes is 94 kcal per 100g (also boiled). Where have those extra 60 kcal per 100g come from? I thought it may have something to do with the water being absorbed, but if I had the bigger ones I'd cut them to the size of the mini ones anyway before cooking, so I can't figure out what difference it would make.

Meganthedogmom

I would use the usda entry and weigh them raw. I weigh everything raw

CurlyCockney

meganridenour wrote: »

I would use the usda entry and weigh them raw. I weigh everything raw

Thanks, but that doesn't answer the question. The labels (and UK labels are much more reliable than US ones apparantly) gives different kcals per 100g boiled.

kommodevaran

Typo? If it's just sweet potato and you cook them from raw, they'll be around 80 calories per 100 grams.

sunnybeaches105

You're either reading the labels wrong or the labels themselves are wrong

Nikion901

try looking at this ...
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=sweet+potato+nutrition
and at this
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calorie-chart-nutrition-facts

No idea why your labels seem to differ. perhaps there is something on the label that your are not seeing ... look for the words 'per serving' and 'servings per container' to see if that clears it up. Or the label has an error on it?

and another site ...
http://www.nutracheck.co.uk/CaloriesIn/Product/Search?desc=sweet+potato

CurlyCockney

kommodevaran wrote: »

Typo? If it's just sweet potato and you cook them from raw, they'll be around 80 calories per 100 grams.

That's what I'm worried about (that it's an error I mean). Asda's website doesn't have the mini ones listed, so I can't double check there.

CurlyCockney

Hehehe I guess I wanted someone to say "it's ok, you can keep smothering them in butter...look how few calories they are!"

I'll use the full-sized potato data for now, thanks for your help :-)

cityruss

Labeling error.

Pinkylee77

different breeds of sweet potato may have different values, often what one calls a sweet potato may be a yam.

tomw86

The data on the label is for 100g boiled not raw so the calories will be lower as the potato will absorb water during boiling. Asda (and others) do this regularly with rice and pasta too. Compare cooked brown rice (120kcals per 100g) to raw (320kcal per 100g) and you'll see what I mean. They get away with it by mentioning somewhere on the packet that xx grams of dry product gives the suggested serving - which they then list as the nutritional information. Frankly it's questionable behavior but perfectly legal here in the UK.

Sweet potato is between 80 to 100kcal per 100g raw no matter what size it is in the bag. Sorry about that

kommodevaran

That's strange. It says clearly "values per 100 grams", and the kilojoules correspond with the kilocalories, so it's not a simple printing error. The value for folic acid is also off (way off; 10 times more than my source).
The carbs are totally off. And it doesn't even add up. Fat 0.3x9=2.7 Carbs+ protein (4+2.1)x4=24.4 makes 27.1 That isn't 34!

CurlyCockney

I know I'm clutching at straws now, but is it possible that the peel has less calories than the actual sweet potato, and thus fewer calories as a whole because there's more peel in 100g of mini ones?

Mirasaki

Possibly boiling removes some of the sugars from the potatoes? But other than that I've no idea!

CurlyCockney

tomw86 wrote: »

The data on the label is for 100g boiled not raw so the calories will be lower as the potato will absorb water during boiling. Asda (and others) do this regularly with rice and pasta too. Compare cooked brown rice (120kcals per 100g) to raw (320kcal per 100g) and you'll see what I mean. They get away with it by mentioning somewhere on the packet that xx grams of dry product gives the suggested serving - which they then list as the nutritional information. Frankly it's questionable behavior but perfectly legal here in the UK.

Sweet potato is between 80 to 100kcal per 100g raw no matter what size it is in the bag. Sorry about that

I was comparing the data for both types boiled, not one raw and one boiled.

cityruss

http://groceries.asda.com/product/sweet-potatoes/asda-growers-selection-sweet-potatoes/34872944

Just use those values.

tomw86

CurlyCockney wrote: »

tomw86 wrote: »

The data on the label is for 100g boiled not raw so the calories will be lower as the potato will absorb water during boiling. Asda (and others) do this regularly with rice and pasta too. Compare cooked brown rice (120kcals per 100g) to raw (320kcal per 100g) and you'll see what I mean. They get away with it by mentioning somewhere on the packet that xx grams of dry product gives the suggested serving - which they then list as the nutritional information. Frankly it's questionable behavior but perfectly legal here in the UK.

Sweet potato is between 80 to 100kcal per 100g raw no matter what size it is in the bag. Sorry about that

I was comparing the data for both types boiled, not one raw and one boiled.

Fair enough, I'd log the raw usda entry then. I do that for all my fruit, vegetables and starches to avoid these sorts of discrepancies in labels - even though I'm in the UK and not the US.

CurlyCockney

cityruss wrote: »

http://groceries.asda.com/product/sweet-potatoes/asda-growers-selection-sweet-potatoes/34872944

Just use those values.

Yep, I think that's what I'll have to do, thanks :-)

lousoulbody

They are so much better baked. & easier.

codsterlaing95

Weigh everything raw...problem solved