Sweet Potato Greens -the new Southern Green?

While wandering my local farmer’s market a few weeks back, I saw something that looked vaguely familiar, but seemed out of place tucked into a basket at a stand.

It was sweet potato greens, or plain ol’ leaves of the sweet potato plant.

Wondering why they were selling these leafy greens that have taken over my backyard garden, I promptly went home and did some research.

Surprise!

Sweet potato greens are being cooked in restaurants and homes across our fair nation and guess what? We’re behind the game as they’ve been cooking these tender leaves in Asia and Africa for a long time.  They cook up just like any other tender green, like spinach or swiss chard, and because the leaf is very thin, they are apparently easy to cook and delicious as well as nutricious.

I just so happen to have a healthy supply of these right now and I also have a husband who loves greens of any sort.  So I’ll be experimenting with these babies this weekend and I’ll let you know what we think.

What do you think? Would you try these or would you just feel like you’re eating leaves?  Leave me a comment below!