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In article >, wrote:
>In article >,
>Phred > wrote:
>>In article >,
> wrote:
>>>
>>>White sweet potatoes seem to be the most popular kinds in Korea and Japan.
>>>The Korean greengrocers here all stock them and no other kinds. The ones
>>>I see all have red skin. I find them dry and bland tasting, much inferior
>>>to the usual moist orange or yellow fleshed kind, but perhaps in Korean
>>>and Japanese cuisine they are prepared in a way that takes advantage of
>>>the difference in culinary properties.
>>
>>The sweet bucks of my childhood (grown by my uncle and cooked with the
>>roast chook for that special Sunday dinner -- at midday, in the
>>tropics, for crissake! ) had a slightly greenish tinge internally
>>when cooked and a very slightly "stringy" texture (more visual than
>>physical). I don't remember their skin colour, but they were
>>*delicious* with a crisp outer shell from the oven roasting. :-)
>
>Interesting. IIRC, white sweet potatoes are sometimes recommended as a
>substitute for "real" potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) in climates too hot to
>grow the latter. They are a bit similar -- dry and starchy.
>
>>I've got a patch of the orange fleshed kind in the backyard here; but
>>I admit they're basically just going wild (and doing it very tough due
>>to high temperatures and no rain) and I rarely think to harvest some
>>for a feed.
>
>They are very nutritious -- extremely high in carotenes. I cook them
>whole in a covered container in the microwave and eat them hot or cold
>with salt and pepper. The very moist kind, with "melting" texture, are
>especially good this way.

When you say "whole", do you mean unpeeled, or just uncut?
Roughly what size do you use, and how long to cook? (As you can see,
you've got me thinking about a harvest. ;-)

>>I'm told by a bloke who was breeding them here that the very sweet,
>>orange types are often used as a sweet (e.g. in desserts) in other
>>parts of the world; but it's not a common way of using them here in Oz
>>AFAIK.
>
>They are sometimes "candied", i.e. peeled, cut into chunks and baked in
>a way that coats them with a sugary glaze, in the southern US. They
>can also be used to make sweet potato pies, by substituting mashed
>sweet potato for pumpkin or squash in a pumpkin pie recipe.
>
>(A little more ethnobotany for non-North Americans: a pumpkin pie is
>made by baking a mix of pureed squash (Cucurbita moschata or C.maxima
>is generally better for this than C.pepo), milk, eggs, molasses and
>spices like cinnamon and ginger with only a lower crust. For a

I have to admit, I'd never have thought of molasses in that.

>healthier version, cut back on the eggs, use low fat milk and skip the
>crust entirely. By not using a crust, you not only avoid loads of fat
>but you can "bake" it in the microwave. Pumpkin pies are often served
>with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, but you can certainly skip
>that as well.)

Wot? I would have thought the pie would just be a convenient base for
those edibles!

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID