Fresh from the Field: The Sweetest Potato of Them All

Oh man, last week was just nuts. Our store’s server crashed and all our recent sales data was lost. No big deal to you, but to me, utter ruin. You see, when I place an produce order I look at past sales to determine how much I’m going to need. So no sales data means I’m flying blind. If I order too much it will go bad before we can sell it, and if I order too little we run out. After taking a long hard look into the ol’ produce crystal ball I placed orders with fingers crossed. Our produce arrives three times a week and my orders need to go out three or five days in advance so if I see that I’ve goofed it takes me more than a week to make corrections. Anyway, it worked out OK I guess. Very stressful though.

I put the plastic on my windows this weekend so it must be close to Thanksgiving. Now, apart from the stuffin’, what I like most about Thanksgiving dinner is Sweet Potatoes. So sweet, so rich, so nutritious, the Sweet Potato is a powerhouse of flavor and provides a wide spectrum of what your body needs. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of Sweet Potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the Sweet Potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, Sweet Potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato! Of course, if you want to smother yours with butter, mix in lots of brown sugar, or, as it is with my people, marshmallows, you will compromise the net nutritional value. So it might be a better idea to use real maple syrup to moisten your Sweet Potato dish.

One of the most often-asked questions in the produce department is, “I see Sweet Potatoes, but where are the yams?” And to avoid an argument I simply reply, “we call yams Sweet Potatoes here, its the same thing.” But that’s not the whole truth. No, it’s a little more complicated, and frankly, fascinating. The Sweet Potato is a close relative of Morning Glory and native to the tropical parts of South and Central America. It is in no way related to the common potato. The first European to enjoy Sweet Potatoes might well have been Christopher Columbus himself. Columbus is generally credited with bringing the Sweet Potato back to Spain and exposing Europe to this wonderful vegetable. At that time they were called batata, which was the native Taino word. Later, when Africans were brought to America as slaves, they began calling Sweet Potatoes yams due to their resemblance to true African yams. A true African yam is huge and brown and most of us have never seen one (and just what would a produce manager that wanted to sell true yams call them anyway?) In the early 1900s several large Sweet Potato producers in the Southern US adopted the name “yam” for Sweet Potatoes and Americans have been confused ever since. But no matter what you call them they’re spectacular vegetables.

Sweet Potatoes

African Yams

The Garnet is my favorite variety. Garnets are more colorful and have more flavor than any other I know of. I don’t just eat them at Thanksgiving, I enjoy them all year-round in a stir fry with other vegetables and rice. Sweet potatoes need more time to cook than say, mushrooms or zucchini. Get your skillet hot and sauté half-inch cubes, covered for about 12 good minutes before adding other fixin’s. The cubes should be slightly tender before putting anything else in the pan. Finish the sir-fry with Tamari soy sauce and toasted sesame oil or coconut milk. Sweet potatoes can be cooked all sorts of other ways as well, so get creative; the Sweet Potato is very forgiving to experimentation. And you don’t have to take my word for it; if you’re not convinced that the Sweet Potato is just about the most perfect food around, ask Oprah. She’s a Sweet Potato nut.

Before I take off I’d like to say that if you’re as interested in the histories of our fruits and vegetables as I am (dork alert!) check out Michael Pollan’s book, The Botany of Desire. PBS is running a special based on the book, it’s a shame they had to leave so much out.

Peace, Phil