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By Root 780 0

The cultivars with the paler skin are generally preferred by northerners. They are said to have nuttier, more nuanced flavors, and often a more stringy texture; this allows them to hold their shape better when cooked diced or sliced. The darker-skinned, orange types are said to be sweeter and more creamy in texture, best for mashing. The differences, however, are not so great that you can’t use these sweet potatoes interchangeably.

Sweet potatoes are more popular in the southern United States than in the North, where supersweet dishes are also less well received. But the popularity of sweet-potato fries and the promotion of sweet potatoes as supernutritious are changing all that.

Availability

Because they store well, sweet potatoes are available year-round.

Storage

Homegrown sweet potatoes should be cured before storing to heal wounds and improve flavor; during the curing process starches are converted to sugar. Cure sweet potatoes by holding them for about 10 days at 80° to 85°F and high relative humidity (85 to 90 percent). Packing the sweet potatoes in perforated plastic bags will keep the humidity high. If you can’t provide the necessary heat, the curing period should be extended.

Once the sweet potatoes are cured, move them to a dark location where a temperature of about 55° to 60°F can be maintained. (An unheated closet may be ideal.) Under ideal conditions, sweet potatoes will last 4 to 6 months.

How to Buy

Choose unblemished, unwrinkled sweet potatoes with tips that are intact.

Preparation

Sweet potatoes may be baked whole, just as with regular potatoes. To peel sweet potatoes, use a vegetable peeler. The flesh will darken on exposure to air, so drop potatoes into a bowl of water if you are not going to cook them immediately.

Cooking Ideas

The easiest way to prepare sweet potatoes is to cut them into chunks and boil or steam until tender, 25 to 30 minutes, then mash with butter. You can add a small amount of orange juice, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and/or nutmeg for extra flavor.

Julienne-cut sweet potatoes can be deep-fried to make fries or tossed with oil and roasted at 500°F for about 20 minutes to make oven fries.

To bake sweet potatoes, pierce the skin of each one in several places with a fork, place on a baking sheet, and bake at 400°F for 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size. The baking sheet is to keep your oven clean; the sweet potatoes will ooze a sticky syrup while baking. Sweet-potato slices also can be layered with slices of apple and then topped with brown sugar or maple syrup and butter and baked in a covered casserole dish at 375°F for about 30 minutes.

Good flavors for seasoning sweet potatoes include orange, pineapple, apples, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, maple syrup, chile peppers, cilantro, lemon, lime, and curry.

Sweet Potato Math

1 pound sweet potatoes = 3 cups sliced = 21/3 cups diced

1 large sweet potato = 1 cup cooked and mashed

Root Vegetables

ROOT VEGETABLES have a bum rap. They are sometimes considered boring and limited. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Root vegetables—beets, carrots, celery root (celeriac), parsnips, rutabagas, salsify, turnips—have many culinary virtues. First and foremost, they are all terrific roasted. Alone or in groups, there isn’t a root vegetable that doesn’t taste wonderful when roasted. And here’s the secret to roasting: use a hot oven (425° to 450°F) and a large enough pan for the vegetables to barely touch each other. If the vegetables are crowded, they will steam rather than roast, and you won’t get the delicious caramelized sugars that give roasted vegetables their distinctive flavor. Half sheet pans, at 13 inches by 18 inches, won’t crowd vegetables, and they fit into standard-size ovens.

Cut the vegetables to a uniform size (my favorite is a ½-inch to ¾-inch dice) so they will cook evenly and fairly quickly, toss them with a little olive oil, and spread them out on an oiled half sheet pan. If they won’t fit in a single layer, use two pans. Roast for 20 to 35 minutes,