Normally, most recipes will call for regular wheat flour, but many unique recipes will utilize other variants of flour. One unusual type of flour that you may find is sweet potato flour.
If you are curious about sweet potato flour, you may be wondering what sweet potato flour is and how you can use it. I did some digging, and here is what I learned!
What Is Sweet Potato Flour?
Sweet potato flour is flour created from whole potatoes that were cooked, dried, and ground. Typically, sweet potato flour has a noticeably sweet taste. Normally, sweet potato flour is used as a thickening agent, but many recipes like baking recipes and fried recipes can utilize sweet potato flour, especially if you want gluten-free flour.
Do you want to find out if sweet potato flour and sweet potato starch are the same, if sweet potato flour is better than wheat flour, and what you can use instead of sweet potato flour? Keep reading!
What Is Sweet Potato Flour Made Of?
Generally, sweet potato flour is made from ground sweet potatoes and how the sweet potato flour will be prepared will depend on the manufacturer.
What Does Sweet Potato Flour Taste Like?
Typically, sweet potato flour features a slightly sweet flavor, but the sweetness of sweet potato flour can blend with many savory or sweet recipes.
What Is Sweet Potato Flour Used For?
Usually, sweet potato flour is used as a thickening agent to thicken stews, soups, gravies, and more. This is because sweet potato flour contains a lot of starch, which can naturally thicken liquids.
Many recipes can utilize sweet potato flour, especially if the recipe is fried, a pancake recipe, etc. However, it is important to note that sweet potato flour contains more starch than other types of flour, so you may need to make some adjustments.
For example, let us say that you want to make a recipe that has sweet potato flour and cornstarch. You may likely want to omit the cornstarch to accommodate sweet potato flour’s starchiness.
Is Sweet Potato Flour The Same As Sweet Potato Starch?
Sweet potato flour and sweet potato starch are not the same. Despite both being made from sweet potatoes, they are prepared differently, giving them distinct properties.
An example would be how sweet potato starch is made from extracted pure sweet potato starch. Since sweet potato starch is starchy, sweet potato starch is often used to thicken recipes.
Therefore, sweet potato starch and sweet potato flour are not used interchangeably. Sweet potato starch also does not taste like sweet potato flour because sweet potato starch is tasteless.
Is Yam Flour The Same As Sweet Potato Flour?
Yam flour is not the same as sweet potato flour. This is because yam and sweet potatoes are made from different kinds of root crops that have different properties.
Most people believe that yams look and function a lot like sweet potatoes. However, the truth is that yams look and taste quite different.
For example, a true yam features dark skin that looks like bark with dry and starchy flesh. On the other hand, sweet potatoes have moister flesh and the skin will look a bit slick.
Other than appearances, yams and sweet potatoes taste different as well. Sweet potatoes taste distinctly sweet whereas yams taste a bit like potatoes and fairly starchy while often not tasting sweet at all.
Is Potato Flour The Same As Sweet Potato Flour?
Technically, potato flour is not the same as sweet potato flour because they are made from different ingredients. Potato flour is made cooked, dried, then ground potatoes, which gives potato flour different characteristics from sweet potato flour.
Some people use potato flour and sweet potato flour interchangeably. However, some potato flour products use potatoes with the skins on, which can give the flour a fairly dry texture.
Is Sweet Potato Flour The Same As Potato Starch?
Similar to sweet potato starch, sweet potato flour and potato starch cannot be considered the same thing. Potato starch is made from starch extracted from potatoes whereas sweet potato flour is made from ground sweet potatoes.
Does Sweet Potato Flour Have Gluten?
Sweet potato flour does not contain any gluten. This is because sweet potato flour is made from sweet potatoes, which are naturally gluten-free ingredients.
Is Sweet Potato Flour Better Than Wheat Flour?
Technically, sweet potato flour cannot be considered better than wheat flour. Since wheat flour is used in more recipes than sweet potato flour, wheat flour is regarded as more versatile and useful.
Moreover, sweet potato flour does not contain any gluten. Gluten is an important ingredient in some recipes that allows food like bread to rise and have structure.
Although sweet potato flour can be an ideal replacement for wheat flour if you want to try making a gluten-free recipe. However, you will likely need to mix sweet potato flour with other flour-like ingredients.
Can I Use Sweet Potato Flour Instead Of Wheat Flour?
It is possible to use sweet potato flour if you want to replace wheat flour. Normally, sweet potato flour will work for recipes that do not require volume, such as pie crusts, pancakes, etc.
What Can I Use Instead Of Sweet Potato Flour?
Generally, tapioca flour is the best substitute for sweet potato flour in most recipes. Tapioca flour has a high starch content and sweet flavor like sweet potato flour.
If you want to find out what seasoned flour is, what sesame flour is, and what stone ground flour is, read our other articles.
Conclusion
Sweet potato flour is flour created from ground sweet potatoes. You should not confuse sweet potato flour with sweet potato starch because sweet potato starch is made solely from the extracted starch of sweet potatoes.
Generally, sweet potato flour is used as a thickening agent due to sweet potato flour’s high starch content. However, sweet potato flour can work for various recipes that do not require gluten.