Sweet Potatoes

Mountains of produce in an outdoor farmer's market reminded me of the paints on an artist's palette. The color of these sweet potatoes seemed... more

by AnnaJo Vahle

Title

Sweet Potatoes

Artist

AnnaJo Vahle

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Mountains of produce in an outdoor farmer's market reminded me of the paints on an artist's palette. The color of these sweet potatoes seemed especially vivid in the Floridian afternoon sun. Although, each one is different, I liked the notion that like finger prints...each seems to have it's own unique shape and textures.Sweet Potatoes
The many varieties of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are members of the morning glory family, Convolvulacea. The skin color can range from white to yellow, red, purple or brown. The flesh also ranges in color from white to yellow, orange, or orange-red. Sweet potato varieties are classified as either ‘firm’ or ‘soft’. When cooked, those in the ‘firm’ category remain firm, while ‘soft’ varieties become soft and moist. It is the ‘soft’ varieties that are often labeled as yams in the United States.
Why the confusion?
In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!

Uploaded

December 8th, 2012