Sweet Potatoes Australia are making cooking dinner easier and faster for busy families with the launch of “Too Easy Microwave Sweet Potatoes” that are ready to eat in minutes.
The new product is not just about convenience, it's also helping to reduce waste by using smaller sweet potatoes that are normally not accepted or sold through mainstream supermarkets.
The little fellas are ideal for the microwave but wouldn't otherwise find their way to market.
The new product was launched on 10 July at Woolworths premium stores across eastern Australia and is now available locally at Woolworths Bargara.
Sweet Potatoes Australia global sales and logistics manager Allan Mahoney said the new sweet potato product was the first of its kind in Australia and was established to fill a void in the market for convenience.
“This is a great little product – how convenient to have this, you microwave for eight minutes and then you have a meal and you can put any condiment on that you like to suit your own taste,” Allan said.
“It’s just fantastic to have a meal ready and on the table within eight minutes.”
Allan said Bundaberg is the main growing region for sweet potatoes in Australia and Sweet Potatoes Australia is the biggest in the Bundaberg Region.
Utilising more crop
Commercialisation manager Cassandra Budd said with more people being time poor the Too Easy product was a healthy alternative to fast food, and as they were pre-washed the sweet potatoes were ready to eat straight from the packet.
Cassandra said 12 months of planning had gone in to making sure the product was perfect before it was launched.
“I think this is a good way of getting people to eat more of the hard veg variety by making it more convenient for them,” Cassandra said.
“It’s basically little baby sweet potatoes that you put in the microwave and in eight minutes they are ready to eat, a nice convenient and healthy product.
“What happens is throughout the crop we get different sizes, so this is really great as it helps us utilise more of our crop.
“You will notice in the stores most of the sweet potatoes are big to quite medium sized sweet potatoes, so this gives us an opportunity for people to have and use smaller sizes.”
The microwave packet can be found right next to the bulk product in the produce section of premium Woolworths stores and comes in range of 500 grams, 1 and 2 kilogram packets.
“The 500 gram packet suits most families for a meal so it’s a fantastic option,” Allan said.
Allan said Sweet Potatoes Australia was a joint venture between Bundaberg’s largest producers of sweet potatoes, Greensill Farming Group and Halt for Holts Farms.
“This is a joint venture between the families, who came up with Sweet Potatoes Australia to give this region a marketing arm for sweet potatoes 52 weeks of the year,” Allan said.
“Our sweet potatoes are planted for eight months and harvested for 52 weeks of the year.”
Super simple from the packet to the plate
Allan said the Too Easy Jacket Sweet Potatoes were just as stated and so easy to use that even he could make a meal on his own!
“I can cook a meal now, so it’s got to be easy to use,” Allan laughed.
“I get a packet of these and a hot chook and I am right.
“I cut them and smother them in garlic butter – I am a bit of a fan like that.”
He said there was always the option to roast or mash the sweet potato but the new product just made it more convenient for everyone.
Allan said he had also tried an Australian favourite, Vegemite, on top of a hot sweet potato, but found he was the only one who enjoyed it.
“We’ve also had these with some chocolate spread and its yum, like a healthy sugar hit,” he said.
The Too Easy Jacket Sweet Potatoes 12-week product trail will continue for another 10 weeks and if successful it will then be launched nationally.
- Visit by PNG sweet potato farmers a recipe for success
I am in WA came from Bundaberg…where’s my packet of sweet potatoes ?????
Comments are closed.