May 01
There are almost 400 hundred varieties of sweet potato, including what is commonly known in the US as a yam. A true yam is the root of the Dioscorea genus of plants, and the word yam is derived from the African term for the root, nyami.
All potatoes, including sweet potatoes, originate from South America, and are one of the oldest vegetables known. Columbus was the man to introduce the sweet potato to American shores, and Spanish and Portuguese explorers to other parts of the world.
The biggest producer of sweet potatoes today is China, with Indonesia, Vietnam and Uganda other countries with large commercial production.
