Heirloom Sweet Potatoes
Although full of flavor, heirloom sweetpotatoes have been forgotten by many in the mega agricultural environment in which we live. Why? They don’t appeal to most people.
Instead, sweet potatoes that have “mass appeal” because of their hardiness and look, like Beauregard and Jewell, get the agricultural mass producers’ focus. However, mass-produced sweet potatoes tend not to be as tasty as the heirloom varieties.
Decades ago, preservationists began to collect and save samples of the open-pollinated (nature’s way without human involvement) sweet potato varieties. These varieties have become known as heirloom sweet potatoes.
More than thirty heirloom sweet potato varieties are listed below. Some, like Nancy Hall, Hayman and Yellow Jersey, may be easier to find in the United States than others. Amish White Bunch Betty’s Brinkley White Edna Evans Frazier White Ginseng Red Golden Slipper Hayman Indiana Gold Ivis White Cream Korean Purple Magoffin Margaret Bray Maynard Family White Millard Cooper Nancy Hall Old Brazil Old Fashioned Southern Queen Old Kentucky Old Orange Orange Oakleaf Poplar Root Pumpkin Yam Qualls Red Wine Velvet Ringley’s Porto Rico Sharp Spanish Red Stevenson Tennessee Top Mark Theodore Meece Old Fashioned White Violetta Wakenda White Yam Willowleaf Yellow Jersey Sweet potatoes are among many other heirloom fruits and vegetables, including carrots, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, corn and lettuce, grown today.
Heirloom sweet potatoes can be found in specialty produce markets and some farmer’s markets; and, slips (plants) can be purchased from marketers like the Sand Hill Preservation Center.
This marketer of sweet potatoes has been working to preserve heirloom varieties. They have set up a project that is both an educational tool and a concerted effort to preserve heirloom sweetpotatoes. They are working to ensure the preservation of as many varieties of sweet potatoes as possible. Check out their site, and others on our Links page (where to buy sweet potato slips), and consider ordering some of the heirloom varieties for your garden. Your taste buds will be glad you did.
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