The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving and sweet potato fun facts. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled “Did You Know?”

For today’s Did You Know we will look at Sweet Potato Fun Facts.

Sweet Potato Fun Facts: The sweet potato or kumara (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable.

• Sweet potatoes and yams are not the same thing,  they’re botanically two different vegetables.
• The sweet potato was domesticated more than 5,000 years ago.
• These orange-fleshed potatoes are known to be a great source of beta-carotene.
• February 22nd is National “Eat A Sweet Potato” Day.
• Vardaman, Mississippi calls itself “The Sweet Potato Capital” and holds the National Sweet Potato Festival every November.
• While the jewel represents more than 75% of the commercially grown options, there are other sweet potato options out there, including Garnet, Diana, and Beauregard.
• Members of Columbus’ expedition in 1492 were the first Europeans to eat sweet potatoes.
• 80% of the world’s sweet potatoes come from China.
• North Carolina produces more sweet potatoes than any other state in the U.S. Louisiana, California, and Mississippi are the other top producers.

Sweet Potato Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we may have missed any sweet potato fun facts in the comment section below. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Sweet Potatoes.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.