I've been fascinated with kumara ever since my first trip here to New Zealand. Its sweet, delicate flavor is not as rich as the American variety, but is just as hearty and packs lots of flavor as a roast or mash.
On the Kaipara Kumara website, they talk a little bit about the history of the kumara and how Maori first cultivated and used the root vegetable:
"The kumara has a long history of cultivation in New Zealand. Brought here by the early Maori settlers over one thousand years ago from Pacific Islands, they were widely grown especially in the semi-tropical regions of the North Island.
The Maori managed kumara growing with great horticultural skill, making use of the ideal growing climate and controlling kumara caterpillar with the use of tamed black-backed seagulls. Kumara caterpillar could devastate a crop almost overnight, hatching in their thousands. Pre-European Maori grew several different varieties of 'bush' kumara, but compared to the varieties we eat today they were very small in size, being no bigger than a finger.
The kumara we eat today has evolved from a larger American variety. It was imported in the early 1850's, and quickly adopted for its superior size and taste."
That said, our American sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato. The softer, orange variety is often called a yam in parts of North America, a practice intended to differentiate it from the firmer, white variety. The sweet potato is botanically very distinct from the other vegetable called a yam, which is native to Africa and Asia. To prevent confusion, the United States Department of Agriculture requires that sweet potatoes labeled as "yams" also be labeled as "sweet potatoes."
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