Background on the Sweet Potato – State Vegetable of North Carolina

Students at a Wilson County school petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly for the establishment of the sweet potato as the Official State Vegetable. Their assignment lead to the creation of the newest state symbol.

North Carolina is the largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation harvesting over four billion pounds of the vegetable in 1989. The sweet potato is high in vitamins A and C and low in fat and was grown in North Carolina before the European colonization of North America.

The sweet potato was officially designated the State Vegetable by the General Assembly of 1995. (Session Laws, 1995, c. 521).

-North Carolina Secretary of State

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Background on Laura Bush

White House Recipe

Laura Bush’s
Recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients for Sweet Potato Casserole
Serves 6 people
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• 8 medium sized sweet potatoes,
  roasted, peeled and passed through
  a fine mesh sieve
• 3 whole eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ bag miniature marshmallows
• cooking spray

Directions for Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole by Ben Garney/Flickr CC2.0

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, lightly mix all the ingredients except the marshmallows.
3. Spray a 9 inch casserole dish with cooking spray.
4. Pour the custard and top with a half bag of mini marshmallows.
5. Bake for about a half hour.
6. Keep warm for service.

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Sweet Potato Casserole Ingredients

In 2001, the North Carolina General Assembly named the Scuppernong the official state fruit.

“All Scuppernongs are Muscadines, but not all Muscadines are Scuppernongs.”

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Cider - Photo by Angela Trevithick

Ingredients for Scuppernong Cider

• 1 quart NC Scuppernong grape juice
• 2 (4-inch) sticks cinnamon
• Dash of ground allspice
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 1 orange, sliced

Directions for Scuppernong Cider

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes.
3. Serve warm or cold over ice.

Yield: 8 half-cup servings.

Learning Links on the Scuppernong Grape

Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit
Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit.
Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports

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Tasty Scuppernong Treats for You

In 2001, the North Carolina General Assembly named the Scuppernong the official state fruit.

“All Scuppernongs are Muscadines, but not all Muscadines are Scuppernongs.”

Scuppernong Grape - Photo by MGShelton

Muscadine grapes are native to North Carolina and… are large, thick-skinned grapes that typically contain four large seeds and grow in loose clusters. Unlike bunch grapes, that are harvested by clipping whole bunches from the vine, muscadines are usually harvested as individual berries.

Source: Excerpted from a North Carolina Muscadine Association brochure
Visit www.ncmuscadine.org for more information.

Ingredients for the NC Muscadine Dump Cake

• ½ stick margarine
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup prepared NC muscadines
• ¾ cup self-rising flour

Directions for the Muscadine Dump Cake

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1. To prepare muscadines, remove pulp; cook pulp until seeds loosen, then press through sieve to remove seeds.
2. Add pulp to skins and cook until tender.
3. Add sugar to taste, some grated lemon peel and a sprinkle of apple pie spice.
4. Melt butter in glass pie plate.
5. Mix flour, sugar and milk in another bowl.
6. Pour flour mixture over butter.
7. Carefully pour prepared muscadines over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
8. Do not open oven until baking time is up.
9. Cake should be brown on top.

Yield: 8 servings.

Learning Links for the Scuppernong (Muscadine) Grape

Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit
Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit.
Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports

Tasty Muscadine Treats For You

[wpzon keywords="Muscadine"]

Sweet Potato Custard by galateadia

The Sweet Potato is the official State Vegetable of North Carolina, and more than 40% of all sweet potatoes are grown there. Sweet potatoes have been around for a long time, all the way back to prehistoric times, when they may have been a favorite snack of herbivore dinosaurs.

According to the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission:

In 1543 DeSoto’s Spanish explorers found sweet potatoes growing in “Indian gardens” in what became Louisiana. The sweet potatoes were also cultivated in the Carolina area of North America before the European colonization.

The American “yam” is a copper-colored Sweet Potato with a golden-red flesh that is moist when cooked and has a sweeter flavor than the “drier” varieties, They are grown primarily in the South, most notably North Carolina (43,000 acres) and Louisiana with California, Mississippi, Alabama, New Jersey, Texas, and South Carolina following.

In Colonial days sweet potatoes were an item of trade and were shipped from the Carolinas out to northern cities. The potato was an essential food for all the colonies in the days before modern means of preservation.

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Ingredients for Sweet Potato Custard

• 1 cup sweet potato, cooked, mashed
• 1/2 cup (about 2) small bananas, mashed
• 1 cup evaporated skim milk
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 2 egg yolks (or 1/3 cup egg substitute), beaten
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• nonstick cooking spray as needed

Directions for Sweet Potato Custard

1. In medium bowl, stir together sweet potato and banana.
2. Add milk, blending well.
3. Add brown sugar, egg yolks, and salt,
   mixing thoroughly.
4. Spray 1-quart casserole with nonstick
   cooking spray. Transfer sweet potato
   mixture to casserole dish.
5. Combine raisins, sugar, and cinnamon. Sprinkle over top of sweet potato
   mixture.
6. Bake in preheated 325 ºF oven for
   40–45 minutes or until knife inserted
   near center comes out clean.

Yield: 6 servings

Serving size: 1/2 cup

Each serving provides:Calories: 160

A heart healthy recipe from The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Image courtesy of

Tasty Sweet Potato Desserts for You

Photo courtesy of Ian Muttoo-Flickr (Creative Commons license)

According to the North Carolina Secretary of State:

The General Assembly of 2001 designated the Scuppernong grape as the official State Fruit (Session laws, 2001, c. 488).

The first grape to be actively cultivated in the United States, the Scuppernong is a variety of muscadine grape. It was named for the Scuppernong River, which runs from Washington County to the Albemarle Sound. The Roanoke colonists are believed to have discovered the Scuppernong “Mother Vineyard,” a vine that is now over 400 years old and has a trunk more than two feet thick.

Grape cultivation is a small but growing part of the North Carolina economy.

Scuppernong Juice Ingredients

• 3 pounds scuppernong or other muscadine grapes, crushed
• 1 cup water

Directions for making Scuppernong Juice

1. Bring ingredients to a boil in a large saucepan.
2. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Pour mixture through a double thickness of damp cheesecloth, discard solids.
4. To serve as a juice to drink, stir in 1 1/4 cups sugar and chill.

Yield 3 1/2 cups.

Recipe courtesy of the South Carolina Department of Agriculture

Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit
Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit.
Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports