Are sweet potatoes healthy?

This holiday staple is also one of the world’s oldest crops – here’s what to know about adding sweet potatoes to your diet

Sweet potatoes can be roasted, mashed, fried and pied – you might have eaten them so often that they feel old hat.

In a way, they are – sweet potatoes count among the world’s oldest domesticated crops. Archeological evidence suggests they were cultivated in South America “more than 4,500 years ago”, says Michelle Johnson, a seed historian, journalist and self-described “sweet potato superfan”.