Sweet Potato

Sweet potato is a tuberous root vegetable with smooth skin and dense, sweet flesh that ranges in colour from white and gold to deep orange and purple, depending on the variety. Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are the most common in Australian shops.

Sweet potato is enormously versatile in the kitchen. It can be roasted, baked, mashed, steamed, fried into chips, or added to soups, curries, and salads. Its natural sweetness pairs well with both savoury flavours — butter, rosemary, chilli, cumin — and sweet preparations like pies and cakes. It’s a go-to for roast veggie trays and is popular in Buddha bowls, fritters, and as a jacket potato alternative.

Sweet potato is one of the most widely grown and consumed root vegetables in the world. In Australia, it’s available year-round and is grown primarily in Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Farmed
photograph to come — from twenty years of markets, farms and kitchens

How it's made

Sweet potatoes are grown from vine cuttings (called slips) planted into warm, well-drained soil. The tubers develop underground over several months. At harvest, they are carefully dug from the earth to avoid damage, then cured in warm, humid conditions for a week or so to toughen the skin and develop sweetness. After curing, they are cleaned and sorted for sale.

Nutrition (per 100g)

Energy 86kcal
Protein 1.6g
Carbs 17.1g
Fat 0.1g
Fibre 3g Sugar 4.2g
Mass Distribution

1 sweetpotato, 5" long is about 130 g — roughly 110 kcal of this.

What it costs the planet (per kilo)

Carbon ≈0.4kg
Freshwater ≈28L
Land ≈0.3m²

≈ Estimated — worked out from a category-typical value further up its supply chain. Where this comes from →

Where it comes from

In the kitchen

Used as

versatile sweet root vegetable

Classic dishes
  • Sweet Potato Pie
  • Roasted Sweet Potatoes
  • Sweet Potato Curry
  • Candied Yams

Keeping it

Keep it: in a cool dark pantry.

Advice from Cubud’s own keeping notes — how to keep it, not a measured number.

Keeping one at home? Track yours in your cubud →

Where this data comes from

Nutrition data from

USDA

How it was calculated

SR Legacy

Full credits, licences, and methods: the sources page →

Where to next

made fromSweet Potato, root goes well withcinnamon goes well withginger goes well withbutter goes well withblack bean goes well withlime shares a sourceCanned Sweet Potato shares a sourceSweet Potato Baby Food shares a sourceSweet Potato Chips shares a sourceSweet Potato Fries & Puffs shares a sourceSweet Potato Leaves shares a sourceSweet Potato Starch & Noodles
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