[Trivia Quiz for Seniors] Introducing fun facts questions about sweet potatoes!

Vitamin C

Sweet potatoes are said to have by far the most vitamin C among root vegetables. While the vitamin C in most vegetables leaches into the water when boiled, the vitamin C in tubers is encased in starch, which helps prevent it from being lost.

Good luck

The flower language of the sweet potato is “good luck.” It’s said that this comes from the fact that sweet potato flowers are rare in Japan. If you happen to see a flower that is seldom seen, that’s lucky, isn’t it?

sweet potato

The dessert that lets you enjoy sweet potatoes directly is sweet potato paste, right? It’s a treat made by mixing sweet potatoes with sugar and heavy cream. If you use Beni Haruka, which has a high sugar content, it can be so sweet that you won’t even need additional sweeteners!

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Imo shochu is a type of shochu made primarily from sweet potatoes. Alcoholic beverages made from sweet potatoes are said to be rare even globally. It is characterized by an elegant sweetness and a distinctive aroma.

Carefully dig around it so as not to damage the potato.

When digging up sweet potatoes, using only a shovel can damage them, and forcibly pulling won’t get them out well. The trick is to carefully loosen the soil around them and pull them out with a gentle wiggling motion.

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There are various theories, but it’s said to have originated at a set-meal restaurant near the University of Tokyo’s Akamon gate during a time when sweets were scarce. It was popular among University of Tokyo students for being inexpensive and offering generous portions.

Tanegashima, Kagoshima Prefecture

The main production area for Annou-imo (Anno sweet potatoes) is the Anno district on Tanegashima in Kagoshima Prefecture. Tanegashima is surrounded by the sea, and its soil is rich in minerals with a stable climate, so the growing conditions are said to be ideal. Their sweetness is distinctive, isn’t it?