Winning works of the first Ningxia middle school student science fiction essay competition: The superstar among vegetables - sweet potato

Editor: Kang Yan Reviewer: Yang Pengbin

(Li Wei, Class of 2021, Haiyuan County No. 1 Middle School)

Sweet potatoes are not unfamiliar to us, but many people just taste them and don't know much about them. But when we carefully understand them, we will find out how "healthy" they are.

This plant is native to America and was introduced to my country during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. During this period, three people made great contributions to the introduction of sweet potatoes. One of them was called Chen Yi. He came to the present-day Vietnam in the eighth year of Wanli, and the local chieftain hosted him for a banquet. Among them were sweet potatoes. He thought sweet potatoes tasted very good, so he bribed the locals, obtained sweet potato seeds, and took them out of the country. After the locals learned that he had walked out of the court, they sent troops to chase him. There was also a doctor named Lin Huailan, who also practiced medicine in the present-day Vietnam and cured the king's daughter. The king was very happy and wanted to give him the most high-end food-sweet potatoes. Lin Huailan was more careful and asked for the sweet potato to be born. He ate half and kept the other half in his arms to take it away, but it was found out when he passed the customs. The officials were moved by Lin Huailan's behavior, but it was not easy to report, so they asked Lin Huailan to pretend to sink into the river and die, which stopped the sweet potato seeds in Guangdong. There was also a man named Chen Zhenglong, who introduced sweet potatoes from Luzon Island to Fujian. He took great pains to embed sweet potato vines into water-drawing ropes to deceive them and get them across the vast ocean. When he returned home, he first planted them at home and got a good harvest. After the harvest, he promoted them on a large scale.

After the sweet potato was introduced to China, it showed its excellent characteristics of strong adaptability and suitability for any land. It also had a high yield, with one acre producing 20 times more than growing grains. In addition, it could be eaten as honey, boiled or ground into powder, so its function quickly spread to inland areas.

In the late Ming Dynasty and early 17th century, there were serious floods in the south of the Yangtze River, and the crops failed, leaving hungry people displaced. At this time, scientist Xu Guangqi learned that Fujian had introduced the species to Shanghai, and then spread it to Jiangsu, where the harvest was quite good.

After the founding of New China, in the 1950s and 1960s, people in most parts of my country were short of food and clothing. During this period, my country suffered a severe drought disaster for many consecutive years since the founding of New China and three years of natural disasters. Many places had no harvest and people were often starving. Sweet potatoes do not require much in the local area, and the yield is very considerable. They can be eaten raw or cooked into powder or dried in the sun, which saved many lives in that era.

After the reform and opening up, that is, from the 1980s to the early 21st century, China began to implement the household contract responsibility system, and sweet potato planting and processing gradually became the choice for farmers to get rid of poverty and become well-off. Sweet potatoes have high yields and low planting investment, and have higher returns than wheat and corn. The development and utilization of sweet potatoes during this period was mainly to process sweet potato starch and vermicelli. The degree of processing mechanization was still relatively low, but it had also developed greatly compared with before. Some professional potato equipment manufacturers also came into being, and their products included sweet potato starch processing equipment and vermicelli equipment.

After entering the 21st century, China's economy has developed rapidly, science and technology has been constantly improving, and consumers have higher and higher requirements for the quality of sweet potato products. Selling goods in live broadcast rooms and Douyin, opening sweet potato online stores to receive orders, and packaging and shipping single-pack vegetables have allowed sweet potatoes to take the express train of e-commerce.

Sweet potato is the "anti-cancer star" among foods of the same origin. It was once called the "Queen of Vegetables", listed as space food in the United States, and called "longevity food" in Japan. The effective ingredients of sweet potato contain a large amount of protein, dehydroepiandrosterone, soluble dietary fiber, carotene, vitamins ABCE, as well as more than ten trace elements such as potassium, iron, copper, calcium, chlorogenic acid, folic acid, etc. As people pay more attention to health preservation, potato products are expected to receive more attention, and the process of the production line will receive more and more attention.

The efficacy of sweet potatoes is unmatched. 1. Widen the intestines and promote bowel movements. After being steamed and cooked, part of the starch in sweet potatoes will change. Compared with raw food, it can increase the dietary fiber by about 40%, which can effectively stimulate the peristalsis of our gastrointestinal tract and promote defecation. 2. Harmonize the blood and replenish the middle. The nutritional value of sweet potatoes is very high. It contains a large amount of sugar, protein, fat, various vitamins and minerals, etc., which are easily digested and absorbed by the human body. Some symptoms of malnutrition can be prevented and treated, and it can also replenish the middle and replenish qi, which is very helpful for diseases such as the middle jiao, spleen and stomach deficiency, and infantile malnutrition. Sweet potatoes contain a large amount of sticky protein, which can prevent the atrophy of the connective tissue of the liver and kidneys, thereby improving the body's immunity and preventing the occurrence of collagen diseases.

The minerals contained in sweet potatoes play a very important role in maintaining and regulating human functions. The calcium and magnesium contained in sweet potatoes can also effectively prevent osteoporosis. Therefore, eating sweet potatoes in moderation is still very helpful for your health. This advantage of sweet potatoes is largely backed up by its beneficial effects on the human body in many aspects. On the other hand, it is mainly reflected in its efficacy: sweet potatoes are rich in dietary fiber, which can stimulate the intestines and enhance intestinal peristalsis, so they can play a role in moisturizing the intestines and laxatives, becoming a good helper for elderly friends to relieve constipation. In addition, it is also necessary to know that it also contains some folic acid ingredients, and the combined effect enables sweet potatoes to prevent the risk of rectal lesions.

People are afraid of aging, but aging is a fact that everyone must face. Natural sweet potatoes have the effect of inhibiting skin aging and maintaining skin elasticity. In addition, they can effectively prevent the appearance of freckles and age spots, so they are known as "longevity food."

It turns out that sweet potatoes have such a great function. They are truly worthy of the title of “Queen of Vegetables”!