Protected local food
Yamadai Sweet Potatoes
ヤマダイかんしょ
Sweet potatoes from Kushima at the southern tip of Miyazaki. Bright red skin, a fluffy texture when cooked and a refined sweetness.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 6 August 2018
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- ヤマダイかんしょ
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 宮崎県串間市
Warm, sunny and volcanic
Kushima sits at the southern tip of Miyazaki, warm and sunny with well-drained volcanic ash soil, ideal for sweet potatoes. Since the late 1960s growers have sorted strictly and developed their own way to store potatoes through winter, so they can ship all year. They now export too.
Fluffy and sweet
Cooked, the flesh turns fluffy and pleasantly crumbly, with a refined sweetness. The skin is a vivid red, and the fine roots are trimmed carefully so each potato looks its best.
How to eat it
Japanese sweet potatoes are best roasted slowly, as yaki-imo, until sticky and sweet. They are also great in tempura and simple sweets.
Good to know
- In winter, look for yaki-imo stalls and supermarket roasters. Ask which variety and region the potatoes are from.
- Compare with Tanegashima Anno Imo, a moist, very sweet potato from Kagoshima.
Questions travellers ask
Are Japanese sweet potatoes different?
Yes. They usually have red-purple skin and pale yellow flesh that turns fluffy and sweet, unlike orange American yams.
Where is Kushima?
At the southern tip of Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.