Kagoshima Prefecture

Kagoshima Prefecture produces 260,000 tons of sweet potatoes annually. Ibaraki Prefecture ranks second with 168,000 tons per year, and Chiba Prefecture is third with 94,000 tons.

root

Sweet potatoes are used as food when their nutrient-storing roots swell and enlarge. You can tell they’re the plant’s roots because there are thin roots attached in places.

morning glory

Sweet potatoes and morning glories are plants that belong to the same genus, Ipomoea, in the family Convolvulaceae. Therefore, sweet potato flowers have a shape that closely resembles that of morning glory flowers.

60 types

It is said that about 60 varieties are cultivated domestically. Additionally, sweet potatoes are believed to have around 4,000 varieties worldwide.

Yarapin

Yarapin is a unique resin glycoside found in sweet potatoes. It is abundant in the skin and vascular bundles of sweet potatoes, and when cut, it exudes as a white liquid.

France

In French, sweet potatoes are called patate douce. By the way, in Italian they are called patata dolce, and in Portuguese batata doce.

Tokugawa Yoshimune

During the Kyōhō Reforms, various policies were implemented, including fiscal reconstruction and rural revitalization, and one of them was the promotion of sweet potato cultivation. At the time, rice was the staple food in Japan, but rice shortages frequently occurred due to poor harvests. Therefore, sweet potatoes were recommended as a crop resilient to bad harvests.