Quick.  Which country grows more sweet potatoes than any other country in the world?

China, by a long, long shot.  More than 100 million pounds annually.  Okay, you probably guessed that one.

Now, which state in the U.S. grows the most sweet potatoes?

No, not California or Louisiana, though they run second and third.  It is North Carolina.  Not a likely guess I would think.

We eat a lot of sweet potatoes, usually several times a week.  We eat them as snacks, especially at the office.  You would be hard pressed to find a more healthy snack.

I convinced Ping to try the purple variety of sweet potatoes because I know it is the one that made Okinawa famous for its long lived people.  They ate the purple sweet potato as the staple in their diet.

The most recent batch of purple sweet potatoes that we bought has been especially delicious.  Ping cuts them in thick slices and cooks them in the counter top oven in our office kitchen.  Then we eat them like candy; they are that sweet.

Now, who eats most of those 100 million pounds of sweet potatoes that are grown in China?  Pigs and other animals eat about 60% of the crop.

What?  With all the hungry people in the world, including in China?

But guess who gets credit in a roundabout way for getting the sweet potato from South America to China?  Well, none other than Christopher Columbus.

Now we are smarter than a fifth grader.