The sweet potato or sweetpotato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The sweet potato is not closely related to the common potato. The sweet potato, especially the orange variety, is often called a "yam" in parts of North America, but it is also entirely unrelated to true yams.
Convolvulaceae, known commonly as the bindweed or morning glory family, is a family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species of mostly herbaceous vines, but also trees, shrubs and herbs, and also including the sweet potato and a few other food tubers.
Poi is the primary traditional staple food in the native cuisine of Hawai`i, made from the underground stem (corm) of taro.
Bidens is a genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae. The common names beggarticks, black jack, burr marigolds, cobbler's pegs, Spanish needles, stickseeds, tickseeds and tickseed sunflowers refer to the fruits of the plants, most of which are bristly and barbed, with two sharp pappi at the end. The generic name refers to the same character; Bidens comes from the Latin bis ("two") and dens ("tooth").
Ipomoea is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Convolvulaceae, with over 600 species. It is a large and diverse group, with common names including morning glory, water convolvulus or kangkung, sweet potato, bindweed, moonflower, etc.
The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands. In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii, Polynesian voyagers brought plants and animals to the Islands. As Native Hawaiians settled the area, they fished, raised taro for poi, planted coconuts, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and yams, and cooked meat and fish in earth ovens. After first contact in 1778, European and American cuisine arrived along with missionaries and whalers, who introduced their own foods and built large sugarcane plantations. Christian missionaries brought New England cuisine while whalers introduced salted fish which eventually transformed into the side dish lomilomi salmon.
Colocasia esculenta is a tropical plant grown primarily for its edible corms, a root vegetable most commonly known as taro, kalo, or godere. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, and South Asian cultures, and taro is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants.
Cellophane noodles, or fensi, sometimes called glass noodles, are a type of transparent noodle made from starch and water.
Agrius cingulata, the pink-spotted hawkmoth or sweetpotato hornworm, is a moth in the family Sphingidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775.
Potyvirus is a genus of viruses in the family Potyviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are currently 183 species in this genus including the type species Potato virus Y. The genus is named after the type virus. Potyviruses account for ~30% of the currently known plant viruses. Like begomoviruses, members of this genus may cause significant losses in agricultural, pastoral, horticultural and ornamental crops. More than 200 species of aphids spread potyviruses and most are from the subfamily Aphidinae.
Sweet potato pie is a traditional dessert, originating in the Southern United States. It is often served during the American holiday season, especially at Thanksgiving and Christmas in place of pumpkin pie, which is more traditional in other regions of the United States.
Ceratocystis fimbriata is a fungus and a plant pathogen, attacking such diverse plants as the sweet potato and the tapping panels of the Para rubber tree. It is a diverse species that attacks a wide variety of annual and perennial plants. There are several host-specialized strains, some of which, such as Ceratocystis platani that attacks plane trees, are now described as distinct species.
Bedellia orchilella, the Hawaiian sweet potato leaf miner, is a moth of the family Bedelliidae. It was first described by Lord Walsingham in 1907. It is endemic to the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii.
Bidens micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name grassland beggarticks. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, where it and other Bidens species are known as kōʻokoʻolau. It occurs in many types of habitat on Lānaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi, including rocky cliffs, dry forests, mesic forests, wet forests, and high shrublands.
Native Hawaiian cuisine is based on the traditional Hawaiian foods that predate contact with Europeans and immigration from East and Southeast Asia. The earliest Polynesian seafarers are believed to have arrived on the Hawaiian Islands in 300–500 AD. Few edible plants were indigenous to Hawaiʻi aside from a few ferns and fruits that grew at higher elevations. Various food-producing plants were introduced to the island by migrating Polynesian peoples.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Hawaii was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States elections in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Hawaii voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Hawaii has four electoral votes in the Electoral College.
Purple sweet potato haupia pie is a Hawaiian dish that incorporates purple sweet potatoes and haupia. It is similar to the sweet potato pie that originated in the Southern United States. This dish however, often uses Okinawan sweet potatoes which are purple in color. It has three layers. The bottom layer is a macadamia nut crust. The middle layer is the Okinawan sweet potato portion. The top layer is a haupia topping, which is added when the bottom two layers are cooled to prevent it from being runny. The Okinawan sweet potatoes are distinct in flavor and texture to other types of sweet potatoes, so it cannot be substituted without affecting the final outcome. The sweet potatoes need to be cooked thoroughly in order to become sweet and turn deep purple. The dessert is very rich, and it is made at any time of the year.
