Cooking with Sweet Potatoes (and Please Don't Call Them Yams!)
by Kalyn DennyFor a few years now, I've been a fan of sweet potatoes. In fact, nearly two years ago I made the bold statement that Sweet Potatoes are the New Potatoes, in a BlogHer post outlining why sweet potatoes are a better choice than white fleshed potatoes. Since that time, my love for sweet potatoes has stayed strong, and I keep coming across new ways to use them.
If your exposure to sweet potatoes has mostly been the brown-sugar and marshmallow type some people cook for Thanksgiving, maybe it's time for you to expand your sweet potato horizons.
First though, let's get one thing out of the way. Unless you live in Asia or Africa, those orange potato-like things you may call yams are not yams, they're sweet potatoes. In fact, yams are rarely even found in the United States. Sweet potatoes come in a different colors, and some varieties are moister than others, but unless you're shopping at an international market, nearly all the vegetables sold as yams in the United States are actually sweet potatoes.
Photo of Sweet Potatoes from Culinary Types
I once tried to tell the produce guy at the store that the orange-skinned potatoes the store was calling "Sweet Yams" were actually sweet potatoes. He kept pointing me to the white-skinned sweet potatoes and telling me, "No, these are sweet potatoes and those are yams." It quickly became apparent I was not going to convince him with my new-found sweet potato knowledge, and if your family has been eating "yams" for Thanksgiving for many years, you may decide the name is not worth fighting about. What you probably won't get any arguments about is how great sweet potatoes taste and what a wide variety of ways there are to cook them. Here are some new sweet potato ideas you may not have thought of. One of these might even possibly make it on to your Thanksgiving table, but if it does, please don't call them yams!
Photo of Crunchy Sweet Potatoes
from Kayotic Kitchen
Savory or Barely-Sweet Ideas with Sweet Potatoes:
From Kayotic Kitchen ~ Crunchy Sweet Potatoes (pictured above )
From Dlyn ~ Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes
From Food Blogga ~ Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate Glaze
From Cookin' Canuck ~ Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Pancetta and Sage Vinaigrette
From My Own Sweet Thyme ~ Sweet Potatoes with Bacon and Pecans
Photo of Savory Sweet Potato Bread
from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch
Sweet Potatoes in Bread or Pasta
From The Barefoot Kitchen Witch ~ Savory Sweet Potato Bread (pictured above)
From Culinary Types ~ Sweet Potato Walnut Bread
From Happy Herbivote ~ Maple Kissed Sweet Potato Muffins
From Vanilla Garlic ~ Sweet Potato Gnocchi
From Not Eating Out in New York ~ Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Arugula and Hazelnuts
Photo of Baked Sweet Potato Latkes
from Erin Cooks
Thinking Outside the Box Sweet Potato Dishes
From Erin Cooks ~ Baked Sweet Potato Latkes (pictured above)
From Fat Free Vegan Kitchen ~ Sweet Potato Falafel with Yogurt Tahini Sauce
From Half Baked ~ Sweet Potato Chips
From A Life Less Sweet ~ Sweet Potato Cookies
From Karina's Kitchen ~ Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas
Kalyn Denny also blogs at Kalyn's Kitchen, where she's focused on creating low-glycemic recipes using fresh ingredients. Kalyn has possibly spoken too soon, but she's already predicted that Soy-Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Sesame Seeds may be her favorite new Thanksgiving Recipe of 2009.
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Comments
Yam vs Sweet Potatoe
I was recently dining out, when I went to order the sweet potatoes fries I was promptly corrected, "we have yam fries." Now, I am not an expert and therefore really appreciate your post, now I can feel confident to stand my ground.
The sweet potatoe has become my new favourite food, I was never a potatoe lover but ate it anyway. I also don't like to cook but will happily pass along any recipies to my husband and maybe even try myself.
Thanks for the post. My mouth is watering and you have inspired me to get out my apron and that doesn't happen very often.
Oh good!
Always happy to hear I have inspired someone to cook! And those were definitely sweet potato fries you ate, but you will probably never convince someone who has grown up calling them yams!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
I love sweet potatoes ...
... but it's just not true that real yams aren't sold in the United States. I live in Missouri and there's an international grocery nearby which sells many varieties, I wrote about them a couple of years ago after conducting a
yam taste test. As many immigrants that we invite into this country, it's hard for me to believe that yams aren't to be found elsewhere too.
Alanna Kellogg Kitchen Parade & A Veggie Venture
Many of your "yams" are sweet potatoes
I will edit the post and say yams are "rarely" found in the United States. However, I've never seen them here, and I've seen many sources saying they aren't sold in the U.S.
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
I heart sweet potatoes
Thanks for the great recipe links! I LOVE sweet potatoes :-) The sweet potato muffins sound wonderful - will have to try those over the weekend.
-Dawn
I love them too!
I think I'm going to go for the Sweet Potato bread myself!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
I love 'em
I love sweet potatoes - especially the white skinned ones. I love to make fries with them, in the oven. I serve them with honey (most people make a honey butter but I find the butter unnecessary). I'm actually going to be baking cupcakes with them later this week as part of an online cupcake club. I've never tried baking with them before, so it will be fun to try.
I like the white ones too!
Never made sweet potato fries with white sweet potatoes though, just orange ones. That sounds interesting!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
Yes, sweet potatoes are the best!
Hi, I love them as well. I love making baked fries (is that an oxymoron?), anyway, I take wedges, a little olive oil, some spices, a little sea salt and pepper, toss them all together and bake 20-30 min. Fantastic, even my kids eat them like this.
The white one were common for me in the Dominican Republic, literally grown in my back yard, my mom used to mash them up and serve with fried cheese (yes, a heart attack) but very yummy :-) I do miss the white ones though.
Can't you find white ones here?
I see white sweet potatoes in my store, although they're less common. Baked fries, love it! Your mom's fried cheese sounds tasty!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
Just had my first taste of white sweet
potatoes
White sweet potatoes just turned up at my local grocer and I was excited to give them a try. Wow! I love the orange kind, but I like the white ones even better. I usually prepare them in a one pan meal --chopped up and sauteed in coconut oil with some ground sausage and a side of sauerkraut. The baked fries are a favorite, too. Thanks for giving me some new ideas!
http://www.CelluliteInvestigation.com
They are good aren't they?
I reallly like the drier texture of the white ones.
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
Love the latke idea. I
Love the latke idea. I sometimes like to make my sweet potatoes have some spice. I make a curry where I fry up some roasted red chilis, mustard seed, curry leaf and then cook the sweet potato in that. The vegetable has so much flavor, it really doesn't need much.
/Chitra/
http://abcdsofcooking.blogspot.com
That sounds good!
I love curry leaf, that sounds wonderful.
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
LOVE Sweet Potatoes
I adore sweet potatoes, I'm sure it's almost an unhealthy love. Sweet potatoes with bacon are so yummy.
beth aka confusedhomemaker
http://theconfusedhomemaker.com/
Ohhhh . . . .
Never thought of that. Now you're tempting me!
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen
Okinawan Purple Sweet Potato
There is a type of purple sweet potato that is grown in Okinawa, Hawaii, and parts of Korea (probably other parts of Asia, too). You can get it at Korean grocery stores in California in late summer or early fall, and also in some of the larger Hawaiian grocery stores.
It is THE BEST sweet potato I've ever had. It looks whitish grey before cooking, but then turns an intense, almost artificial looking purple hue. They are almost as sweet as candy, and I could only really think of eating them as a desert. If you can find some, buy them!
More here: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-okinawan-sweet-potatoes.htm
What's your story?
Oh wow!!!
Would love to try them. So beautiful.
Kalyn Denny Kalyn's Kitchen