Honey sweet potato: varieties and cooking
The sweet potato is a humble country treat everyone loves — especially the honey type, which oozes golden syrup and turns wonderfully sweet when roasted. From Da Lat honey sweet potato to the Japanese and purple varieties, each has its own charm.
1. Varieties and famous growing regions
Sweet potato is grown throughout Vietnam, but each region is known for a particular variety suited to its soil and climate.
- Da Lat honey sweet potato: orange-gold flesh that oozes syrup when roasted, deeply sweet and soft.
- Japanese sweet potato: purple skin, yellow flesh, nutty and moderately sweet, popular steamed or roasted.
- Purple sweet potato: striking purple flesh, soft and often used in cakes, sweet soups and steamed dishes.
- Vinh Long and Dak Nong are major sweet-potato regions known across the country.
2. Harvest seasons
Sweet potatoes are grown in several crops, so they are available almost year-round. Depending on the region and variety, they are usually harvested about four to five months after planting; tubers left the full time and given plenty of sun store more starch and taste sweeter.
3. Nutrition and benefits
Sweet potato is a wholesome, filling source of starch that is high in fibre. Orange-fleshed honey sweet potato is rich in beta-carotene, while the purple variety is full of the antioxidants that give it its colour.
- High in fibre, which helps support digestion and keeps you full for longer.
- Orange-fleshed tubers are rich in beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.
- Purple sweet potato contains natural antioxidants.
- Provides steady energy, making a wholesome snack or side.
Eat the skin too (after washing well) to keep extra fibre and nutrients.
4. How to choose the good ones
- Choose firm tubers with intact skin, no cracks or soft spots.
- Slim, medium-sized tubers are usually sweeter and less stringy than very large ones.
- Avoid tubers that are sprouting or have black spots or insect holes.
- Honey sweet potatoes often weep a little sticky sap at the ends — a sign of plenty of natural syrup.
5. Storing
- Keep them in a dry, cool, airy place out of direct sunlight.
- Do not refrigerate raw sweet potatoes — the cold can make them hard and off-flavoured.
- Do not wash before storing; rinse only just before cooking to avoid mould.
- Remove bruised or sprouting tubers early so they do not affect the rest.
6. Ways to enjoy it
Honey sweet potato is at its best slow-roasted until the syrup runs out, fragrant and intensely sweet. Beyond that, it is delicious steamed, boiled, simmered into sweet soup, baked into cakes or fried until crisp.
- Slow-roasted so the honey type oozes its natural syrup.
- Steamed or boiled for a light, filling breakfast.
- Cooked into sweet soup (chè), banh, or crisp-fried.
Roast honey sweet potato over a moderate heat for a little longer — the more thoroughly it cooks, the more syrup runs and the deeper the flavour.
Farm to Door’s honey sweet potatoes are selected from renowned growing regions such as Da Lat and Vinh Long, delivering firm, syrup-filled tubers for the whole family to enjoy.
