Australian greengrocers sell three main types of sweet potato: the orange one, the red-skinned one with white flesh, and the pale one with purple flesh. Those are the three varieties in this comparison. They are the backbone of the Australian industry, grown mainly around Bundaberg, with Cudgen in northern New South Wales the next biggest district, and they are the three we stock as planting tubers.
They share a growing method and a season. Where they differ is flavour, colour, how long they take and how much they forgive. This guide puts them side by side so you can pick the right one for your kitchen and your climate.
Beauregard: the orange all-rounder
Beauregard is the standard orange sweet potato: rose gold skin, deep orange flesh, and a moist, sweet flavour when roasted or mashed. It was released in Louisiana in 1987 and became the standard variety across the United States, then in Australia.
In the garden it is vigorous and productive. Tubers are large, hold a tidy oval shape in good conditions and can lose it in poor ones, and they store well after curing. It is susceptible to root-knot nematode, so avoid beds with a nematode history. It is the safest choice for a first-time grower and the best choice if you want a big harvest of the classic orange sweet potato.
- Skin: rose gold, sometimes with a light bronze tint.
- Flesh: orange, moist and sweet when cooked.
- Season: about four to five months.
- Best for: roasting, mashing, soups, wedges, and anyone growing sweet potato for the first time.
Northern Star: red skin, white flesh, early to finish
Northern Star is the purple-red skinned, white-fleshed type sold beside the orange ones in a good greengrocer, and the leading red variety in Australia at under a tenth of the national crop. It came to Australia from Papua New Guinea and was selected for Australian growers by Queensland Department of Primary Industries researchers in the 1990s. The flesh is firm, drier than Beauregard, and mildly sweet, closer to a floury potato than to pumpkin.
Its two garden virtues are yield and speed. It sets a heavy crop of marketable tubers and matured earlier than most in the Queensland trials, which makes it the best of the three for cooler districts and shorter seasons. It also has a double skin that reduces scuffing at harvest. The trade-off is that the roots can go bumpy or ribbed when growing conditions turn difficult, and a bed that dries out and is then soaked is the usual cause in a home garden, so keep the watering even.
- Skin: deep red to purple.
- Flesh: white, firm and dry-textured.
- Season: the earliest of the three in trials, often about four months in a warm season.
- Best for: roasting whole, chips, baking, and gardens with a shorter warm season.
Eclipse: white skin, purple flesh
Eclipse is the purple-fleshed sweet potato with pale, creamy white skin, the type sometimes sold as Hawaiian. It is an Australian selection, identified in northern New South Wales and taken up through the industry's cultivar trials, where it out-yielded the older white-skinned purple type. The flesh is dense and drier than the orange types, with a mild rather than sugary sweetness, and it makes a deep violet mash.
Like the other two it needs about four to five months of warm weather. It has been trialled mainly in Queensland and northern New South Wales, so in a cool district Northern Star or Beauregard have the stronger record. Two notes on appearance: the depth of purple varies between tubers, and the skin sometimes carries a pink tinge. Both are normal for the variety.
- Skin: white to cream, sometimes with a pink tinge.
- Flesh: purple, from marbled to deep violet, dense and drier than the orange types.
- Season: about four to five months, the same as the others.
- Best for: mash, steaming, baking, and colour on the plate.
Which one should you grow?
If you can only grow one, grow Beauregard. It gives the most reliable harvest of the sweet potato most people want to eat, and it forgives most mistakes.
- Cool or short-season garden: Northern Star first, Beauregard second.
- Subtropical or tropical garden with a long season: any of the three.
- Small space or a single large tub: Beauregard or Northern Star, both of which set tubers close to the crown.
- Cook who wants colour: Eclipse for the mash, Beauregard for everything orange.
- First time growing sweet potato: Beauregard.
Many gardeners plant two varieties in the same bed so the harvest covers both the roast dinner and the purple mash. Because they are all grown from slips, a pack of two tubers of each variety is plenty for a family patch.
Do they all grow the same way?
Yes. All three are sprouted into slips from the tuber, planted out after the last frost into warm, well drained soil, and lifted about four to five months later when the leaves yellow. The full growing guide and the zone by zone planting calendar apply to every variety.
All three tubers we supply are first generation foundation seed from an Australian specialist seed grower, supplied clean with no post-harvest treatments. You can find them in the sweet potato tuber collection. Once you have chosen, our guide to sprouting slips is the next step, and the recipes article shows what each variety is best at in the kitchen.
Due to quarantine restrictions and our shipping policy, we cannot send sweet potato tubers to Western Australia or Tasmania.
Get the tubers
First generation foundation seed tubers from an Australian specialist grower, supplied clean for sprouting your own slips. Packs of 2, 4 or 10 tubers, all in our sweet potato tuber collection.
Sweet Potato - Beauregard TubersOrange flesh, rose gold skin. The productive all-rounder.See the tubers
Sweet Potato - Eclipse TubersPurple flesh, white skin. Dense and drier, makes a violet mash.See the tubers
Sweet Potato - Northern Star TubersWhite flesh, red skin. Early, heavy cropping, great for chips.See the tubers
More sweet potato guides
Frequently asked questions
Which sweet potato is the sweetest?
Beauregard, which is sweet and moist when cooked. Eclipse is dense and drier with a milder sweetness, and Northern Star is milder and drier again, closer to a floury potato. All three get sweeter after a week or two of curing.
Which sweet potato grows fastest?
Northern Star was the earliest to mature in the Queensland trials, often about four months in a warm season. Beauregard and Eclipse both take about four to five months.
Which variety is best for cold areas?
Northern Star, because it finishes earliest, with Beauregard as the second choice. Eclipse has been trialled mainly in warm districts, so it has the weakest record in a short, cool season.
Why is my Eclipse only partly purple?
The depth of purple varies between tubers and between plantings. It is a known trait of the variety, not a sign of anything wrong, and it does not affect the crop the tuber will grow.
Why do some tubers have a bronze or pinkish tint on the skin?
Our grower notes that this season's tubers, grown through winter in cold ground, can carry a light bronze tint, most often on Beauregard and Northern Star, and Eclipse skin sometimes has a pink tinge. It is cosmetic and does not affect the plants the tuber grows.
Can I grow all three in one bed?
Yes. They have the same needs and the same season. Label the rows, because the vines look alike.