[Sca-cooks] OOP: Question about potato types...

[Terry Decker]

Ipomoea batatas is Ipomoea batatas and is purely New World.  Apparently they 
come in a fairly wide range of creams, yellows and oranges, but we usually 
get stuck with the orange sweet potato because that is what everybody 
expects.  There may be a textural difference with the lighter colored sweet 
potatoes, but the orange ones should work okay.

Bear

> I ended up with this cute, little "Indian" cookbook after Christmas 
> (Indian
> sub-continent, not Native American/First Nations).  There's an interesting
> recipe in there for a "Sweet Potato Dessert--like a sweet, milky version 
> of
> potato soup.  I thought, aha! I have lots of sweet potatoes, this might 
> make
> a nice treat!
> Oddly, though, there's a note with the recipe talking about the specific
> type of potato to be used.  The author describes these sweet potatoes as
> "longer than ordinary potatoes ...[with] a pinkish or yellowish skin with
> yellow or white flesh."
> I'm not sure if they're talking about the American standard sweet 
> potato/yam
> or not, since I would describe the coloring of mine as a dark orange.  Are
> there types of potatoes used in Indian cooking that are not widely known
> here in the US? Would my American yam/sweet potato work well enough?
> --Maire, in the mood for some serious beta-carotene ;o)