Sweet "Superhero" Potatoes

You would think sweet and superhero don't pair well? Superheroes may be sexy, acrobatic, enigmatic but NOT sweet. Friends, this will change your belief as it did to mine. The super-duper sweet potato acts as a superhero by fighting disease villains and boosting our system with the anti-oxidants.

Superfood : Sweet Potato

While on the red-eye back from San Francisco, I was skimming the Men's health magazine left behind by another traveler when the article on "40 Foods with Superpower" caught my eye. One of the super food listed was the unpretentious sweet potato. For less than a dollar a pound, the half-moon shaped potato cannot be judged by its cover. The article calls it one of the healthiest food on the planet with many disease-preventive qualities and full of antioxidants.

Who knew that "a sweet potato a day will keep the doctor away"

I found this article online for your read:

Men's Health: 40 Foods with Superpower

Sweet Potatoes are not Yams. WHAT!?

Did you know that they are often mixed with yams but yams are not sweet potatoes. According to Everyday Mysteries published by the Library of Congress,

"In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!"

Here is the full article :

Library of Congress: What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?

Quick and Easy Recipe from Delhi Streets

Inspired by the article, I bought 4 sweet potatoes - 2 of the red variety and the other 2 of the brown variety. I am yet to see the purple variety.

Anyway, i tried to replicate the experience of eating sweet potatoes slow-broiled on charcoal in the midst of delhi winters.

I scrubbed the potatoes under a flowing tap and then broiled the sweet potatoes (525F) in my apartment oven for about 40 minutes. I could tell that they are done by holding them on my palm and feeling the soft mush and taking in the sweet aroma with every breath. Careful missy, the potatoes are real hot out of the oven. They crack open under the broiler and I tore the skins slightly only to sprinkle sea salt, cracked peppercorns and squeeze a quarter of a lemon wedge.

Then I take my serrated steel spoon to dig in (spoon that I originally bought for baking grapefruit brulee - another story for another time), place a spoonful of potato in my mouth as it melts and let myself travel twenty years back feeling the small plastic spoon in my mouth riding a rickshaw with my mom.

That was my story and recipe. Do you have any sweet potato recipes or experiences to share?

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