Is yacon a sweet potato? Where is it produced?

1. Is it sweet potato?

Yacon is not sweet potato, but although they look very similar, they do not belong to the same plant. The skin of yacon is smoother than that of sweet potato, and it contains more water. However, the taste is very different, and the taste of yacon is crisper.

Yacon is a perennial herb, also known as snow lotus potato and ginseng fruit. The fruit has purple-red skin and irregular shape. It can be eaten raw or as a side dish. In addition, if it is cooked, it can be used to stew spare ribs and eat in hot pot, or it can be processed into crowns, fruit shops, etc.

2. Where is the specialty?

Yacon is a specialty of South America and a tuber food often eaten by Indians. At the beginning, it was successfully introduced to Taiwan, my country, and then it was tried in Yunnan. Now, it is grown in many regions of China, such as Hunan, Hainan, Hubei and Fujian.

It likes sunlight and has good tolerance to strong light, but is very afraid of drought. It is suitable to be planted in cool mountainous areas with low latitudes. It can grow normally when the annual average temperature is below 18℃. The suitable growth temperature is 5-25℃. It cannot tolerate cold and usually the above-ground stems will die when encountering frost.