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Mississippi Sweet Potatoes

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Mississippi sweet potato growers plant more than 20,000 acres of sweet potatoes each year. The state consistently ranks second in the United States in sweet potato acreage and third in production. In 2012, sweet potatoes were grown on approximately 22,500 acres, producing 394 million pounds of sweet potatoes with an estimated value of $79 million. 

Mississippi State University Extension

I made a claim in a comment and I got to wondering if it was true.

14 Responses

  1. “I made a claim in a comment and I got to wondering if it was true. ”

    And…????

  2. But you’re going to keep us in suspense???

    What was your (correct) claim???

    1. Oh. Mississippi being a top producer of sweet potatoes. In fact:

      Vardaman is located in one of Mississippi’s top five sweet potato-producing counties. The Vardaman Sweet Potato Festival, also known as the National Sweet Potato Festival, is held there annually the entire first week in November.[5][6] Vardaman has been proclaimed as the “Sweet Potato Capital of the World”.[7]

  3. I notice that your photo of the sweet potatoes makes them appear white – at least on the outside. I’m accustomed to yellow outside, or even reddish. Do you know the difference among them? I’m assuming the “white” potatoes are yellow inside…
    I know the yellow ones are a light yellow in side, and the reddish ones are dark yellow inside. The reddish ones tend to be elongated in shape, the yellow ones tend to be more regular potato shaped.

    I don’t use sweet potatoes much…mostly for a dessert recipe – which I’ll be happy to share, although I suspect it’s not an unusual one.
    Probably because my family history is northeast – no southern roots anywhere!

    1. Nope. Those are white sweet potatoes! Inside. If I remember correctly, they are the variety O’Henry. https://www.newhopeseed.com/ohenry_sweetpotato.html

      Unfortunately, because you live in the free and sovereign state of California, no one will ship slips to you. They are really excellent, though.

      This year I planted Centennial which is the classic, and Porto Rico which is a bunching variety.

      Send along your recipe!

      We love sweet potatoes. Done every imaginable way. Search the blog and you’ll find a ton of recipes, including one for sweet potato waffles which are really good!

  4. 2 things…
    Checked your recipe for Bourbon Sweet Potatoes. Very close to “Ken’s Sweet Potato Casserole” which is what I use.
    Differences: 1/2 C sugar instead of 1C, but adds 1 C light Karo syrup. 2 eggs instead of 3…but I think 3 is better (I’d been thinking about adding another egg to make for a firmer cooked product). 1/4 tsp Cinnamon (optional – I like it) No bourbon – I might give that a try! probably without the cinnamon, I think!
    Topping: 1/2 your topping in quantities – think I’ll double mine next time!

    Second: Have you any idea _why_ sweet potato slips can’t be shipped to Calif??? I don’t understand that one. Are they likely to grow wildly out of control?? (I do remember Kudzu in Georgia…now _THAT_ was an out of control plant!!)
    We apparently have a problem with “black mustard” after the fires – which is weird because they show up as lovely vast fields of yellow blooms on the mountains. When I looked it up, it seems the seeds are black. Still … an odd name when you see the fields of yellow. The problem is that they’re annuals that grow readily after fires, but then die at the end of the season and provide fields of fuel for the next year’s fires. They apparently also compete with other native plants for water and nutrients and are such strong growers that they crowd out the native plants. Is this a likely danger with sweet potatoes? or do they carry some infectious disease/pest/whatever?? More stuff I don’t know!

    1. I do know they can’t be shipped. The places they come from ship the out according to your growing season. So I get mine in mid-April b/c that’s after all chance of frost. They’re shipped in cardboard boxes labeled “plant material” and I bet you can see where this is going. They send them through the mail. Farm–> USPS–>me.

      There’s another step when shipping to California It’s not that CA prohibits them, but they have to be inspected first. And according to the farm, sometimes they sit in those boxes for weeks before they’re sent out to the customer. And guess what? They die! Mine never look that good when I get them but I stick ’em in a mason jar on the kitchen table and they perk up in a day or two. But you know, dead is dead. And the customers proceed to call & email the farm and complain. So the farms just don’t ship to those states.

      John quite frequently reduces the amount of sugar in those old recipes!

  5. “So the farms just don’t ship to those states.”

    Totally reasonable. And simple. So simple that it never occurred to me – I just assumed it was another example of legalistic California in action!
    Have you ever started them from the sprouts that grow from stored sweet potatoes? Do you know if that’s a possible?

    1. I know it’s a two stage process, and that it’s not like potatoes. I think that link from Mississippi State explains how to do it.

      I also know that when I dig them up, if I leave roots in the ground, I can get volunteers!

    1. You know that sweet potato vine they sell at Lowes or wherever for planters? Lots of towns and cities have them on the sidewalks. That’s just a sweet potato that’s been bred for flowers. Lots of times, if you dump the planter out, there will be small, edible sweet potatoes!

    1. That seems completely correct. Good luck! They are one of the easiest things to grow.

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