Harvest Pick: Japanese Sweet Potatoes

Some people (like me) grow a few vegetables in their garden plots. Then there are my friends Catherine and Greg, who live nearby. Their large gardens yield bushels of vegetables throughout the growing season. As we approach a potential frost, they are taking in their last produce: onions, garlic, carrots, turnips, beets, cabbage, potatoes, and the last vestiges of tomatoes and parsley.

Here in Massachusetts, home vegetable gardens have pretty much reached the end of the season, and gardeners are harvesting the last of the root crops, squash, and cruciferous vegetables. Mrs. Farmboy just brought in the last of the raspberries. Back on the farm in Illinois, my mother reports that both the corn and soybean crops have been harvested with great yields.

Squash on the menu

If you’re just now harvesting your late squash, Epicurious has some great recipes. (Of course, you could also take advantage of the bounty at local farm stands.) Easy ones include roasted acorn squash and honey or butternut squash and chorizo hash. The more complicated would be squash au vin, a take on coq au vin using winter squash, or you could treat yourself to bourbon pumpkin pie.

With several large plots on their sun-splashed property, Catherine and Greg have taken vegetable gardening to the next level. They grow enough not only for cooking during the growing season; they also preserve and store their homegrown bounty to enjoy over the winter until next year’s crop. They try at least one thing new every growing season, and are especially looking forward to a novelty they’ve just harvested – Japanese sweet potatoes.

A new trend?

Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider describes these tubers as “rose-skinned ivory-fleshed cultivars developed in the Far East. All those I have tasted have been elegant indeed,” she writes. Baked, the texture is smooth and medium dry, and the flavor is warm, medium sweet. Steamed, the creamy cylinder becomes banana-like in texture and very sweet, she reports.

As she plans her own creations, Catherine comments that the sweet potatoes are street food in Japan, where vendors freeze and sell them frozen, to be eaten with a spoon like ice cream. Catherine reports that their crop, while harvested, must still cure (as pictured above) for another five to 10 days. When they are finally ready, she’s anxious to try some of these recipes: Japanese sweet potato rice, sweet potato yaki mochi, and sweet potato and leek soup.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I feel like we’re on the beginning of something that’s about to happen in food trends.” Note: You may not need to grow your own. Check your local supermarket, as our grocer is carrying them now.

Other vegetables making their way to the table now include beets, and Catherine is planning on a favorite borscht recipe from her grandmother, who was originally from Kyiv in Ukraine. She’s also planning a repeat of a beet and goat cheese tart recipe that she picked up from a Gordon Hamersley cookbook. And there’s even a beet chocolate cake. “It’s awesome,” she said. “You’d never know there are beets in it. It’s like a Southern Red Velvet Cake.”

She’s planning a meal in the near future to sample some of these sweet potato recipes, and she’s invited us to join them. My taste buds can’t wait.

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