Super Sweetpotato Facts

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Sweet Potato Facts

Think you know all there is about North Carolina sweetpotatoes? Test your knowledge with interesting facts below.

Yam I Am … Not

The sweet, orange-colored root vegetable that is often thought of as a yam in the U.S. is actually a sweetpotato. All so-called yams are sweetpotatoes. Some people think that long, red-skinned ones are yams, but they really are just one of many varieties of sweetpotatoes.

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A true yam is a starchy edible tuber that is generally imported from the Caribbean. It differs greatly from the sweetpotato in taste, texture, appearance and family.

See more: Cozy Recipes Featuring Sweetpotatoes

Depending on the variety, sweetpotato flesh can vary from white to orange and even purple. The orange-fleshed variety was introduced to the U.S. several decades ago. In order to distinguish it from the white variety everyone was accustomed to, producers and shippers chose the English form of the African word “nyami” and labeled them “yams.”

Even though the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires them to always be labeled “sweetpotato,” many people still think of sweetpotatoes as yams regardless of their true identity.

Photo credit: Ian Curcio

Farm Facts: Sweetpotatoes

  • Producing 50% of the sweetpotatoes grown in the U.S., North Carolina ranks as the No. 1 sweetpotato producing state.
  • The sweetpotato was designated as the Official Vegetable of the State of North Carolina in 1995.
  • There are some 350 commercial sweetpotato farmers in North Carolina.
  • In 2021, 104,700 acres of sweetpotatoes were harvested in North Carolina for a total of more than 18.3 million hundredweight of the crop.
  • Sweetpotatoes should never be refrigerated unless they are cooked. Temperatures below 55 degrees damage the quality and destroy the flavor, causing them to become bitter.

Sources: North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission, National Agricultural Statistics Service

– Linda L. Leake

3 Comments

  1. B. Boone

    September 19, 2014 at 3:00 pm

    I love sweet potatoes/yams, but for the past couple of years the potatoes I’ve been buying are aweful. They are watery when cooked, not very sweet, have light streaks in them which dry out, and just don’t taste very good. I used to bake them and eat right from the pan, but no longer. Many of my friends who bake say that they experience the same thing. What’s happened to one of my favorite vegetables?

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