Cook a Sweet Potato Day – February 22, 2024

History of Cook a Sweet Potato Day

Sweet Potatoes are widely consumed by billions across the globe and mainly in America. This sweet root vegetable is very versatile and is used in salads and soups and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner. The most important part of the vegetable is the starchy tuberous roots. Nevertheless, the leaves and shoots are also edible. Eating cooked tubers can increase their nutritional value and digestibility; however, many American colonists in the Southeast consumed raw sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are a distant relative of the common potato as they both belong in the order Solanales. It is believed that before Western exploration, sweet potatoes were grown in Polynesia. Later, it is said they have spread to Central or South America typically through the spread of vine cuttings rather than seeds. In fact, it is believed that Central America domesticated sweet potatoes around 5,000 years ago. According to the Peruvian sweet potato remnants found in South America, it has been observed that they date back to 8000 B.C.

In 1594, sweet potatoes were introduced in the Fujian province of China from Luzon. Governor Chin Hsüeh-Tseng (Jin Xuezeng) further encouraged growing sweet potatoes. In the year 2019, the global production of sweet potatoes was measured at 92 million tonnes. China led this production with 56% of the world’s total.

Sweet potatoes also arrived in Europe and it is recorded in “Elinor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book,” compiled in England in 1604.