Sweet Potato Varieties
World-wide there are about 6,500 sweet potato varieties including wild accessions, farmer varieties, and breeding lines. Source - International Potato Center (CIP)
Sweet potato skin colors come in various shades of creamy white, yellow-orange, tan, reddish-purple and red.
Sweet potato flesh colors come in shades of orange, yellow-orange, white, purple and red.
Below are descriptions for some sweet potato - yam varieties found in North America. Link to a chart that shows skin colors and flesh colors for over 100 popular sweet potato varieties.
Sweet potatoes come in many different shapes and sizes too!
Some orange-flesh sweet potato varieties include:
Nemagold, Centennial, Southern Delite, Hernandez, Regal, Bush, Travis, Excel, Vardaman.
Some cream-colored or white-flesh sweet potato varieties include:
Star Leaf (known generically as Boniato), White Delight, Nancy Hall, Sumor, Picadita, Campeon.
Most of the sweet potatoes produced in the U.S. are either Beauregardor Jewell (see descriptions of these and some other popular sweetpotato varieties in chart below).
Varieties of sweet potatoes discovered by a friend shopping a Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill) farmers' market October 2013. Thanks Charlotte B.!
Sweet Potato Name & Origin / Skin Color / Flesh Color
Allgold (Oklahoma) / Tan / Orange
Apache / Pale Orange / Pale Orange
Beauregard (Louisiana) / Rose / Orange
Brinkley White / Creamy White / Creamy
Bunch Porto Rico / Yellow-Orange / Yellow-Orange
Carolina Ruby (No Carolina) / Dark Red-Purple Red / Dark Orange
Centennial / Copper / Pale Orange
Cherokee / Bright Copper / Orange
Continental Red / Pink-Red / Light Orange
Cordner (Texas) / Copper / Medium Orange
Cordner's Red (Oklahoma) / Purple Red / Orange
Dianne / Reddish / Dark Orange
Garnet / Red / Orange
Georgia Jet / Purple Red / Light Orange
Hannah (Yellow Hannah, Sweet Hannah) / Light Tan / Light Yellow
Hayman (Eastern Shore) / Cream-Tan / Yellow-Greenish (cooked)
Hernandez (Louisiana) / Burnt Orange / Deep Orange
Jewell (No Carolina) / Copper / Deep Orange
Porto Rico (No Carolina) / Rose-pink / Orange Mottled
White Delight (Georgia) / Purplish-pink / White
White Hamon Sweet Potatoes
Here's a picture of White Hamon sweet potatoes at a local market. I was delighted to discover these White Hamon sweet potatoes because rarely do city food markets provide varieties other than Jewel or Beauregard. I bought several and made a root vegetable dish with them. The recipe, which includes sweet potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas, sweet onions, carrots, white radishes, white beets and turnips, in varying combinations, is featured on this site's recipe page. I've included a photo of the sauteed root vegetables, which are delicious roasted too.
The Duck Creek Farms' website provides descriptions of many of the varieties of sweet potatoes that they usually provide for shipment from late spring till early summer.
Email them at duckcreekfarms@aol.com for more information about retail sales and ordering availability.
The Jackson Farming Company's website provides some more background, description and pictures.
Hannah and Japanese Sweet Potatoes - Weavers Way Coop, January 2016
Hannah (Yellow Hannah, Sweet Hannah)What is Your Favorite Variety of Sweet Potato?
Which variety of sweet potatoes do you like to eat? Share what you like about them!
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Purple skin/flesh (variety unknown) 
Flesh is not stringy & they're drier & less sweet... which is perfect for making sweet potato salad & mashed sweet potatoes. But keep in mind when using …
Yellow Hannah
Not too sweet, great taste by itself.
Water Yam
For a Nigerian dish
Carolina Ruby
Carolina Ruby has the perfect balance of sweetness; it's early maturing, and attractive with lots of vitamin A material.
Ginseng Red - Sweet Potato
Ginseng Red: Lovely spindle shape with a smooth skin and bright orange, sweet flesh. It also requires less space for vines and has a pretty palmate leaf. …
Jersey Sweet Potato
Very little sugar and is somewhat like a regular potato.
Carolina Red/dark ruby Sweet Potatoes
This potato has a natural sweetness and needs only spices and butter.
Okinawan Sweet Potato
Okinawan Sweet Potatoes have a dry, fluffy, beautifully colored purple flesh that taste like maple syrup on pancakes. The potatoes are quite dense and …
Forked Leaf Yam
Forked-Leaf yam is an old variety of sweet potato that I can't find anymore. Was a good eating sweet potato that we planted in home gardens......
Brown Horse Sweet Potatoes
I was visiting family in Kentucky where they grow this odd color woody brown skin sweet potato, with very sweet dark red flesh - I fell in love with them. …
Don't Know the Name of Sweet Potato That Tastes Like Chestnuts
I love them because when I eat them I feel like I'm eating chestnuts. They really taste like chestnuts. I love them. I don't always find them and also …
Japanese
Sweet potatoes are better for you and having a white flesh makes it easier to disguise them for the hubby and kids; and, then they actually started liking …
Satsuma-imo sweet potato
I haven't tried very many types of sweet potato, but I love the Satsuma-imo (commonly known as Japanese yam) because it has a wonderful flavor and texture …
Beauregard
Very sweet, bright orange color, tastes delicious. I prefer a small, smooth potato for baking. But a larger one is good for candying.
Hayman/VERY sweet and moist
Although they will win no awards for size or beauty, their flavor/sweetness is unequaled. Although they are not included in your varieties list they should …
Hannah Not rated yet
Hannah is just as tasty as a regular sweet potato but not as stringy.
Beauregard Not rated yet
Sweet flavor; when baked I can eat the skin.
Beauregard Not rated yet
Maybe a good variety for us to promote in China mainland.
We are China Haisheng Group (www.chinahaisheng.com), one of the top leading agri-business …
Japanese Sweet Potato Not rated yet
When baked, they are creamy and sweet, hot or cold, they’re a great snack! I’ve put them in stews, mixed them in with regular yukon gold or red potatoes …
Vardaman Sweet Potato Not rated yet
Orange flesh sweet potatoes - might as well call them Mississippi delta taters - that is most of what we get here. Although I have had tastier varieties, …
Purple Sweet Potato with White Flesh Not rated yet
Looking for a purple sweet potato with white flesh. It is super sticky when peeled. Can’t find them anywhere. Great grandparents used to have them in West …
Bonita Not rated yet
When baked it (Bonita) is very sweet without the fibers of orange sweet potatoes.
Delmar Red and White Sweet Potatoes Not rated yet
Extremely sweet the white one was packed full of sugar can't find them
Jamaican Not rated yet
Just the best, and a super high energy food for enhanced strength, stamina and also mood improvement.
Okinawan Sweet Potato Not rated yet
First I am not sure that this is the Sweet Potato that I am talking about. I saw this at a farmers market and the people selling them said they were Sweet …
Hannah Sweet Potato Not rated yet
Hannah sweeet potatoes make a good pie.
Covington Not rated yet
Best flavour of all
Yams Not rated yet
taste good, they are healthy and easy to prepare...because I just steam them with skins on....after they cool they are easy to peel and taste great.
Japanese Sweet Potatoes Not rated yet
The taste of Japanese sweet potatoes is sweet and delicious and full of nutrients and it's so easy to cook and easy to bake.
Georgia Red Not rated yet
Dark red orange flesh oozing syrup when baked in the skin. Lovely unctuous sweet flesh when seasoned with a pat of butter and salt and pepper.
Norton Yam Not rated yet
Norton Yam - it is the best tasting
Beauregard Not rated yet
Very good flavor with no bitterness
White Hamon Sweet Potatoes Not rated yet
Its really good and grown in some parts of Guyana :-)
Japanese Sweet Potatoes Not rated yet
They have a nice texture, are sweeter than any other sweet potato. Mashed with vanilla and coconut milk, they don't even need sugar added!
Nancy Hall Not rated yet
Nancy Hall sweet potatoes taste delicious when baked and also make very good candied potatoes. The flavor is better than any other I have had. They are …
Malaysian Farmers' Market Sweet Potato Not rated yet
Today I bought from my Malaysian farmers' market the orange hue inside the red skin Sweet potato. It tasted like butter. Has anyone tried that variety …
WHITE HAYMAN Not rated yet
I lived my entire life (70+years) thinking 'sweet potatoes' were orange - until I moved to Southern California from the East Coast and discovered the Hayman …
Garnet Sweet Potatoes Not rated yet
This variety has a sweet taste!
O'Henry Sweet Potato Not rated yet
It, O'Henry Sweet Potato, is awesomely tasty!!
O'Henry - Sweet Potato Not rated yet
This sweet potato has an outstanding taste.
All Types Not rated yet
I like them all because of their colors, and the origins they have.
O-Henry Not rated yet
I love this white flesh sweet potato. They (O Henry) bake dryer than most varieties; butter and brown sugar are absorbed nicely into the flesh.
Boniato Sweet Potato Not rated yet
They have a red skin and white flesh. Their texture is in between a dry white baking potato and a moist orange sweet potato. I like them because they …
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