Purple Sweet Potatoes

Purple sweet potatoes originated in Central and South America and were brought to Asia after Christopher Columbus’s exploration of the Americas.   This variety was introduced to Japan in the 1600s and became popular in Okinawa, the southern island of Japan. Japanese sugar plantation workers brought the purple tubers to Hawaii in the early 1900s, where they became a local favorite.

Stokes Purple Sweet potato farmer Mike Sizemore received a gift of purple-colored potatoes from an unidentified woman and began to cultivate them. He eventually patented the variety and launched it in the commercial market in 2006.

We like to refer to these as “Papa’s Perfect Purple Sweet Potatoes” – say that tongue twister 3 times really fast!