A tuberous root native to the tropical America.  It is distantly related to the potato but needs warmer climates to thrive. the most common forms are long with reddish skin and a rounded shape.  The flesh may a whitish color that changes to violet when cooked the yellow variety familiar in the south.  The yellow fleshed variety is often referred to as yams or the Louisiana Yam, but the true yam is a different plant altogether.

Sweet potatoes have flesh that is more solid or dense than the regular potato, so it takes much longer to cook.  This means that a sweet potato of the same size of a potato will be much more filling.  Due to its sweetness it is used for both sweet and savory dishes as with sweet potato pie in the Southern US.

Among the varieties of sweet potatoes are: Virginian, Algerian, Rose of Malaya and Spanish. Large-scale cultivation in the United States didn't start until 19th century.

Sweet potatoes should be clean, smooth, firm and bright in appearance

Serve Sweet Potatoes with marshmallows, brown sugar, allspice, cardamom, apricots, raisins, brandy, rum, apples, oranges.