posted
I've always HATED sweet potatoes. When I was pregnant with my first child, my husband's great aunt (who was from Tennessee) invited me to lunch one day. When she served me, there was a baked potato on my plate - I don't remember what else. When I cut into the "baked potato", it was ORANGE! (I'm sure you can see where this is going) I'd never in my life seen a baked sweet potato, and with my delicate pregnant stomach, I almost lost what lunch I'd already eaten. I took a few bites of the sweet potato to be polite, but I thought it was nasty.
I still don't like sweet potatoes (or really any truly orange vegetable) but I've recently discovered Okinawan Sweet Potatoes. They're absolutely delicious. They're purple, and sweet and nummy, without that nasty ORANGE flavor that traditional sweet potatoes (and yams and pumpkins and squashes and things) have.
The first time I had them was on the Big Island this summer at a hospital cafeteria. They were made into a potato salad that looked like something on the table in the food fight scene in "Hook". It took a lot of encouragement from my co-workers to try it, but once I did, I went back again and again.
At our office Christmas party, the mashed potatoes were made half and half with Okinawan Sweets and white potatoes. It's a bit unnerving to eat purple food, but I didn't need encouraging that time.
I'm currently pan frying some Okinawan sweet potatoes with some yukon gold potatoes for dinner. I just sampled one, and it was oh so good. I can't wait until they're done.
Yay! For purple sweet potatoes!
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I think there's something in the chemical composition of the orange vegetables that I don't like. They all have a similar flavor that I just can't stand. Maybe the beta-carotene or something?
But purple is good, although I'm not a big fan of taro... give me time. Hawaiian food grows on you. Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Yeah, I was thinking it might be the beta-carotene. I don't think I know anyone else who dislikes the taste of it.
My mom eats so many carrots (and other orange veggies) that her skin often has a slight orange/yellow cast. (Mine does also, but much less so.) We love (orange) sweet potatoes!
But I would like to taste these purple ones. They look interesting.
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posted
From what I understand, they're becoming more mainstream. They're one of the biggest crops on the island of Hawaii anyway, which may or may not translate into being available in California. I do recommend them, though.
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posted
I understand you perfectly. I can't stand sweet potatoes. Even the smell is enough to make me nauseated, and I am incapable of eating them and keeping them down. If they were the only food, I believe I would starve.
I also despise pumpkins and yams, though yellow squash is edible, and zuchini is actually good. I think raw carrots are okay, but I like them much less cooked (though, unlike sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie, I am capable of eating steamed carrots).
So, yeah . . . beta-carotene? Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I love yams, but alas, they are not available here. Pumpkin, however, is, and I love it! They cut up the pumpkin, already small (about six or eight inches in diameter) into quarters and sell it like that. Yum!
I recently had some local sweet potatoes - the flesh is white and more fibrous than potatoes, and I liked them. Fahim hates them - I have no idea why. But I had no idea that sweet potatoes could be white.
posted
maui babe, have you ever tried nmu muchi? They sell it at swap meets sometimes (but it's unfortunately not fresh there), and they also sell them annually at the Okinawan Festival in Kapiolani Park on Oahu. It's so yummy; you might like it. It's one of my favorite foods from home. If you're going to try it, try it hot.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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When I was a little girl, I used to get so upset at "institutional" holiday dinners when the only dessert was pumpkin pie. I would cry and cry... my mother always made me a cherry pie at home, but most church & school parties and other gatherings would just have pumpkin pie.
I think I actually have a mild allergy to pumpkin - I get severe headaches if I eat even a small amount. And the smell will drive me out of the room. I always bake at least one pumpkin pie for my family at Thanksgiving.
I can't think of anything more revolting than canned sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmellows. <gag>
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posted
I've never heard of nmu muchi... is it like mochi? I'll ask my Japanese and Okinawan co-workers about it.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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I don't know if I've ever tasted a real, actual yam. As I understand it, those "candied yams" you always see at Thanksgiving are actually sweet potatoes; yams are gigantic things that are grown in Africa. Nevertheless, candied "yams" are among the most revolting kinds of "food" I've ever encountered.
Raw carrots I'm quite fond of. I cannot eat them cooked.
But I looooves me some pumpkin pie. Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Thanks, Rivka! I'm gonna forward this to my boyfriend who thinks I'm crazy. He's always teasing me about my aversion to "orange" foods...
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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Okay, I just googled "nmu muchi" and found a recipe... I'm sure I've never had it, and doubt I'd like it. The main ingredients are canned yams <shudder> and mochiko flour, which sets off my texture sensor...
Although, I'm usually open to new foods, so if someone brought some in to work, I'd probably try it.
My office mate (Takako) at work is Japanese and she's always bringing really weird things in for me to try. Today, one of the RNs in our office came in with a box of manju & mochi from some specialty store in LA. Takako got really excited and told me what each one was. I tried a manju that was shaped like a bird and had a white bean & cream filling. I was underwhelmed.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Really? I always thought they were made from Okinawan sweet potato. The ones at the festival are purple-ish.
...Oh, okay. I just looked it up. The Okinawan sweet potato is a yam. So I guess they just substitute Okinawan sweet potato for the canned yams.
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