Lanzarote’s sweet potatoes could win European certification

Lanzarote’s sweet potatoes could win European certification as a unique product of quality, according to a food expert from the Canarian Government.

Luis Arráez, director of the Canary Islands Institute of Agricultural Quality, has claimed that the sweet potato fulfils all requirements to win a certification that would establish it as a quality product, boosting potential exports and prices.

Arraez explained that producers would need to request the certification, which would then set off various assessments at a national and European level. If all went well, the sweet potato could receive the accolade in two or three years.

The sweet potato is one of Lanzarote’s most important crops, with special farming methods developed in then El Jable region to cultivate it. The island’s potatoes are regular praised as world-class by chefs.

However, Lanzarote sadly lost its longstanding Guinness World Record for the heaviest sweet potato last October. The 37-kilo specimen grown in Güime in 2004 was beaten by a 43-kilo tuber grown in Switzerland.