A US team developing a “first-of-its-kind” sweetpotato milk has received the backing of local farmers in its bid to build a new market for waste veg and “stabilise the regional economy”. The North Carolina Sweetpotato Commission (NCSC), a nonprofit corporation made up of over 300 sweetpotato producers and packers, has now partnered with the team to help bring the idea to supermarket shelves within two years. To make the milk, the Rootsii team has created a patent-pending process that uses enzymes to break down a sweetpotatoes’ long-chain starches. How sweetpotato milk is madeThe product also contains chia seeds as the emulsifier, a yeast-derived protein, and coconut oil. The team pointed to sweetpotato milk’s strong environmental record with it requiring only a fraction of the water needed for almond milk.