Sweet potatoes are a popular Louisiana agricultural product. These sweet, orange tubers grow in the rich soil of central Louisiana and are harvested in the autumn. When the boil weevil ruined much of the cotton crop in Louisiana in the 1930’s, farmers looked for another cash crop to take its place. Enter the sweet potato. Over the years, the LSU AgCenter and Research Stations have developed improved varieties of sweet potatoes that are sweeter, moister and less stringy. The most widely grown commercial variety is the Beauregard sweet potato which is now grown in many parts of our country. To distinguish these copper-skinned potatoes from whiter sweet potatoes grown on the East coast, the LSU researchers in the 1930’s coined the term Louisiana “yams.” In reality sweet potatoes and yams are the same thing. Sweet potatoes are now a staple in our diets. As an added benefit, this food full of nutrition and is quite healthy being very rich in the Vitamin A precursor, carotene.
Here is my collection of recipes featuring sweet potatoes.
