"sweetpotato" news and stories

All the comments I've gotten on the Autumnal Casserole post have led me to believe that there are a lot of you out there looking for alternatives to the traditional Thanksgiving side dishes. So I thought I'd post another one of my favorites. This one originally came to me via 101 Cookbooks. Heidi found it in Artisanal Cooking by Terrance Brennan. It is a sweet potato puree that is flecked with vanilla and orange zest and it so good that you might think it belongs in a pie instead of along side your turkey.

I first made it two years ago to take along to my family's Thanksgiving buffet. I put the bowl down on the table and got hijacked into a conversation with my aunt. When I finally got back to the table half an hour later, the bowl was nearly empty. Last year I made it for Christmas dinner. While we were waiting for my dad to carve the turkey, my mom and I stood in the kitchen together and scraped the bowl of the food processor clean with our fingers, just so as not to let any of this puree go to waste.

Give up your sweet potato casseroles and try this puree. It will convert even the most devoted of the mini-marshmallow fans.

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Can the lowly Sweet Potato answer the world's ever growing needs for food and energy supplys and remain environmentally balanced? Japanese scientists seem to think so. 

"With people scrambling for food and energy, environmental destruction will get increasingly serious," said Toyoki Kozai, president of Chiba University and an expert on sweet potatoes. "Sweet potatoes can solve these three major problems all at once."

The sweet potato can grow with little use of fertilizers (boosting its green credentials) and also using the same area of land yields five times more than rice in terms of weight.  The food can also be used to make alcohol for fuel and biodegradable plastic. Unlike petroleum-based plastic, that made from sweet potatoes decomposes naturally through bacterial action in the earth. You can even buy hydroponics equipment to grow sweet potatoes designed for rooftop greening as a way to absorb heat. All in all it sounds a most benefical group on so many levels - I can't stand the taste though!

 

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I just tried the Vanilla Sweet Potato Puree recipe from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks as a side to my holiday meal. After cooking the sweet potatoes until soft and tender, I placed them in a large bowl with cream, vanilla extract, a bit of orange zest and a bit of butter and whipped them with a hand mixer until they were smooth and fluffy.
You can see Heidi's batch in the photo above because her styling of this side is far more appealing than any of my attempts. Somehow, it seems that purees look much less glamorous than they taste. No matter, because this tasted fantastic. The vanilla flavor, though I used extract rather than infuse my cream with real vanilla beans, as Heidi did, came through very well. Its delicate flavor brought out the sweetness of the potatoes without having to add a lot of sugar. Whipping the whole mixture, combined with the cream, no doubt, makes it incredibly light and fluffy. This is a standout dish and is definitely worth a repeat. Or two.

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