Henry VIII, always in the market for an improvement in his love life, set the fashion for sweet potatoes at the English court in the sixteenth century. He voraciously consumed staggering amounts baked in spiced pies, believing tales of their aphrodisiacal powers. The sweet potato, its attributes unproved, lasted in favor about as long as one of Henry’s wives. Today in Europe its consumption is limited mainly to Spain, where it was introduced from the New World as early as 1
