Oh My Sweet!

About author / Sarah Christine Bolton

Coffee addict; professional food writer; food fusion. Her slow cooker recipes go above and beyond your normal crockpot fare.

Sweet potatoes were probably one of the first foods I ever ate. I even remember (at least I think I remember!) little jars of baby food that were pureed sweet potato. It was probably what my mom was feeding my younger siblings, but I’m sure she fed it to me, too.

Even though people use the words “yam” and “sweet potato” interchangeably, they are actually two very different vegetables. They are both starchy, but yams are from the Old World, mainly Africa, and sweet potatoes are New World, specifically Peru.

Sweet potatoes were grown in Peru as early as 750 BC, so when Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492, the Native Americans were experts on growing them. Throughout the history of America, sweet potatoes sustained everyone from early settlers to Revolutionary War soldiers. During World War II, when flour was at a shortage, ground sweet potato flour was used to supplement baking.

In my family, sweet potatoes provided a very special type of sustenance. Whenever I or one of my siblings was sick with a fever, my mom wouldn’t let us eat a lot of solid foods. Broth and juice were it; she thought it would help us get better more quickly. Whether that’s true or not is beside the point. All I know is that after surviving on a liquid diet for a few days, solid food was worth its weight in gold.

My mom would bake a huge sweet potato and bring it to me on a paper plate, with the tiniest bit of butter and honey. In a normal situation, a sweet potato would be great, but in starvation mode, sweet potatoes were like edible gold.

I’ve always been a big fan of pumpkin pie. I’ll make one any time of the year, not just at holiday times. But then, I discovered sweet potato pie. For those of you who think pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie are basically the same…you should be ashamed of yourself!

Sweet potato pie is actually very different from pumpkin pie. Sweet potato pie is velvety and thick, while pumpkin pie is smooth and almost custard-like in consistency. Although I will admit they are similar, I think the flavors are slightly different in how they interact with the spices (like cloves, etc.). The difference in the two pies is also regional. You would probably never find sweet potato pie in the northern or western United States, and I imagine pumpkin pie is less popular in the south.

Another amazing way to cook sweet potatoes is by slicing them and frying them, so they come out very similar to regular French fries. You can only find sweet potato fries at a few restaurants, so I always order them if they are on the menu.

And of course we can’t forget the quintessential way to cook sweet potatoes: sweet, with lots of gooey, melted marshmallows and pecans. Since I’m not a fan of melted marshmallows, I found a recipe without them.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 6 sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans