British-grown sweet potatoes are set to go on sale in supermarkets for the first time next week (w/c 26 October).
They are the first successful results of a crop innovation in the south of England which has taken three years to develop.
Nearly three tonnes of sweet potatoes have been lifted from polythene-covered raised outdoor beds in Farningham, Kent, following a project overseen by Joe Cottingham, group director at Watts Farms.
Cottingham toldThe Guardian: “We have been successful in growing sweet potatoes outdoors in Kent because of careful variety trial work and selection for frost resistance, which the crop is susceptible to.
“They are grown in light soils through a mulch which allows us to get warmer soil temperatures which produce good-sized potatoes. We give the potatoes all the water they need through drippers underneath the mulch, which takes them from small plants to much larger plants bearing fruit in five months.”
Watts Farms is one of the the UK’s largest growers of fresh herbs and chillies.
The UK version of the sweet potato,which is usually grown in the US, Egypt, Senegal and Israel, will be available at Asda stores.
Cottingham added: “Sweet potatoes have been a challenge, but we have finally got there after experimenting with a number of different varieties. A white Caribbean sweet potato was rejected as 'too sweet' for British tastebuds, but the more familiar-looking red-skinned, orange-fleshed variety was successfully grown from plants put in the soil in the spring.'
In March sweet potatoes appeared for the first time in the shopping basket used by the Office for National Statistics to measure UK inflation.
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