Sweet, low-calorie, healthy and tasty - yacon for the diabetic menu

It is crunchy, cheap and low fat. The Peruvians are proud to present: the "yacon", a root originating in Peru - the new hope for diabetics and obese people around the world

the yacon similar to a potato

The Peruvians claim that this is a "superfood": both sweet and healthy, such that even diabetics can indulge in it without delaying satisfaction. The country that gave the world the potato is now introducing the yacon root, which according to research reduces the risk of colon cancer, helps in the absorption of vitamins and calcium and balances high blood sugar levels.

Although its external appearance is not very attractive - the yacon resembles an elongated dark brown potato - this root has become the great promise of food exporters in the poor country. "It is absolutely a 'super product' even though few people really know how to use it, or know its virtues," explained Giancarlo Zamudio, a Peruvian businessman who intends to export hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of cans of yacon to Japan by the end of the year, where they will be used to season yogurt.

Advertisement In the 80s, the yacon arrived for the first time from South America to New Zealand, and from there it was also distributed to Japan. It is a cheap and easy plant to grow, and today yacon fields can also be found in Brazil and Thailand, but Peru leads with the largest number of varieties of the plant, and is still its main grower. The credit for discovering the properties of the yacon goes precisely to the Japanese, who learned that the leaves of the plant, which are used to make tea, manage to regulate high blood sugar levels, a side effect of meals rich in starches or sugar, which is mainly suffered by diabetics who are forced to use insulin in order to process the food .

The sugar that yacon contains is not absorbed by the body, which means that despite its sweetness, it is low in calories: a jar of yacon syrup contains half the calories of a similar jar of honey. According to the Peruvians, liacon has a crunchy and crunchy texture and a juicy taste. As you leave it in the sun, its sweetness increases, and you can eat it as a fruit, as a syrup, add it to drinks, cakes, pickled or stir-fried.