I like produce. I like to grow it. I like to eat it. I like to create recipes with it. I’m also kind of a nerd and like to get to know my produce. I like learning new or fun tidbits of info about the produce I’m growing/eating/baking. If you’re a weirdo like me then buckle up for this new series as I dive into a plethora of produce facts and share them with you.
1. America has been growing the most sweet potatoes since WWII. About 2.5 billion pounds of sweet potatoes are produced each year in the US alone! 260 billion pounds are produced globally!
2. By the end of the war, industrialization of farming and the rise of processed foods left sweet potatoes in the dust. U.S. production dropped by a billion pounds within two years after the war and it bottomed out in 1980, with less than 1 billion pounds total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sweet potatoes were on their way out, until a recent surge.
Recipe for Heirloom Sweet Potato Casserole
3. Sweet potatoes are cheap and really easy to grow, so they become an easy staple to ward off hunger when funds are scarce. Plus, sweet potatoes satisfied a sweet tooth at a discount for Americans strapped for sugar.
4. The sweet potato is the 6th principal world food crop, and approximately 90% of the world’s crop is grown in Asia.
Recipe for Crock Pot Vegan Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup
5. American’s obsession with diets, namely the South Beach diet, Paleo diet or Atkins diet helped refuel the sweet potato craze. Since those diets were so restrictive, a sweet potato became an allowed sweet treat. Even TV personalities like Dr. Oz highlighted the magic of the vegetable.
6. In 2000, Americans ate about 4 pounds of sweet potatoes per person. Today, it’s nearly double that, at 7.5 pounds per person.
Recipe for Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad with Raisins and Walnuts
7. Despite a physical similarity and a frequent confusion with their names, yams and sweet potatoes are not even distantly related. They are in two different botanical families. Yams are actually related to grasses and lilies
8. Sweet potatoes are actually flowers! They are actually part of the same genus as the morning glory flower, and the flower that blooms from the sweet potato plant looks much like a morning glory.
How to Dehydrate Sweet Potatoes
9. Sweet potatoes come in many different colors like orange, white, yellow, red and purple. The taste, texture, flavor, and nutritional content differs among the varieties. Orange sweet potatoes are the sweetest of them all.
10. Despite its “sweet” label, sweet potatoes can be eaten by diabetics because of their low glycemic index; meaning, eating a sweet potato does not cause a sudden spike in blood sugar levels.
Recipe for Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoes
Had you heard any of those fun facts before? Do you have any of your own to add? Is there a particular produce item you want to know more about? I take requests!
Grow on,
~ Mavis
Pro Tip: To get really sweet sweet potatoes, it’s best to let them cure before eating. Just dig them up, leave them to sit on top of the dirt {keeping them nice and dry} for a week or so. Then, brush off the dirt and store.
To cure, lay them out on newspaper in a cool, humid, dark, and well-ventilated place. Let them sit there for about 2 weeks, that will give their skin a chance to toughen up for storage. Store in a cool, dark, room temperature place {basement, cellar, etc.} some people even wrap their sweet potatoes individually in newspaper and store them in boxes. The key is to avoid chilling the sweet potatoes. The longer they sit, the sweet they get.
Recipe for Sweet Potato Fries
Carrie Council says
I eat way more than 7.5 pounds a year. I typically buy 3 pounds every week for 2 adults. I have been spiralizing them and sauteing with olive oil, salt and cinnamon and eating with over easy eggs for breakfast. Yummy and filling!
Teresa says
They make delicious ‘pumpkin pie” too!
Barbara says
Hi Mavis, Your picture of Lucy by the wood stove this morning looks so warm and cozy!! I was so excited when I saw the personalized dog bone ornaments this morning – perfect for my tree this year. I love my gingerbread ornament-I used to make gingerbread boy and girl cookies every Christmas season when my children were young. Thank you.
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks Barbara, I should have it ready to ship in about a week! 🙂
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
I do have a few more facts for you Mavis. Here in NC we are the nation’s largest sweet potato growers and the sweet potato is our state vegetable. “According to the USDA, North Carolina harvested nearly 95,000 acres of sweet potatoes in 2016, nearly 30,000 more acres than California, Louisiana and Mississippi combined – also top producing states.”
I LOVE sweet potatoes too, and we definitely eat way more than the average. I usually buy straight from nearby fields 2- 40 pound boxes to last us (husband and me) most of the year with extras to share with family. Unfortunately, the farm was sold and the new farmers are growing cotton instead 🙁 I guess I’ll have to buy them from the store now like everybody else, or grow them like Mavis next year. And I agree with Teresa, they make good pies. We fix sweet potato pies more often than pumpkin pies here!
Daddio7 says
As for cheap, no, the usual price is $.69 a pound to $.90 a pound. Around Thanksgiving they may be $.49.
Yours look beautiful, what variety are they? In my area, north Florida, the Georgia Jet produces the best with the Diane variety next best. Nancy Hall, Yellow Jewel, Bunch Puerto Rican, and Vardaman made next to nothing but copious amounts of vines.
Mavis Butterfield says
This year I tried Beauregard Sweet Potato Slips and I will probably try the same ones again next year but under black plastic like Mrs. C told me to do. 🙂
Linda DeGroot says
I eat more than 7.5 lbs. One year, I bought 160 lbs in 40 lb boxes. This year, I will buy only 80 lbs. I pay $12 for 40 lbs. I buy them from the farmer.
When I have sweet potatoes, sub them for pumpkin in pies and pumpkin bread. The pie and bread will be better. The bread is very dense and moist.
The best variety is Georgia Jet, but they do not store well at all. Get enough for two weeks. I only buy Beauregard now to store. My neighbor who died at 94 taught me about the varieties and how to bake them–she oiled them with bacon fat right out of the skillet she used that morning, put them in the oven in all sorts of cast iron skillets in a 350 oven. Depending on their size, she took them out when done using a pot holder to squeeze them to see if they were done. The largest ones stayed in the oven the longest. NO FOIL or microwaving.
Yes, I knew a few of the facts you cited.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
Linda, your household sounds like ours re: consumption. That’s the same price I paid for sweet potatoes when purchasing from the farmer here in NC. So disappointed that is no longer an option for us 🙁 And yes, baking them caramelizes the sugars and makes them SO good. Baked is my favorite way to eat them.
Practical Parsimony says
I am a household of one. But, I do send home many with a friend, who loves them. I have a hard time convincing people to bake them. They just give me a side eye and they say they will only bake them! THEN they put sugar on them, which they do not need at all when they are baked.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
You are right Practical Parsimony! NO sugar necessary when baked, only butter!
Sue says
My sister in central Alabama told me to buy Mississippi reds when I can find them. They are delicious.
Mary says
I grew 40 pounds of them this year. They’re curing as we speak. I live in Southern California. I put the slips in the ground in mid May and harvested them a few weeks ago.
Kristy says
I’ve only grown sweet potatoes for a few years, but I wanted to let you know that you may want to double check on how to cure your sweet potatoes. Everything I’ve read to cure sweet potatoes for long term storage and to bring out the sweetness, you need temperatures between 80 and 85 and humidity around 80-90 percent, and it can take 4 days to 2 weeks. Mother Earth News has an article that I’d saved with those stats, but I have read the same thing on other gardening websites, forums, how to articles, etc.
Practical Parsimony says
Yes, they cure about 80 degrees. She must be talking about storing sweet potatoes.