Tropical Sweet Potato (Camote)
The Sweet Potato (not yams), called CAMOTE in Spanish, are native to Costa Rica and considered to be one of the healthiest of all vegetables.
They grow in poor soil with little oversight or care, with their vines spreading out on top of the soil and their tasty tubers developing underground.
The leaves are edible also, prepared like a spinach, so this remarkable plant gives us two harvests.
It also acts as a weed suppressor, so we’re using it in the fruit orchards between trees, in what would normally be unused space, at least until the trees are larger and begin to shade it out.
There are different varieties, and the flesh ranges from white to a yam-like orange, although the skin is always a fuchia-purple. The oranger ones are very difficult to find, but I discovered a few at the store and then cut them in half to plant them.
