Sweet Potatoes.

Sweet potatoes have the same hearty texture as regular potatoes, but they’re so much for flavorful, with a slightly sweet, earthy taste that only intensifies during cooking. Don’t wait for Thanksgiving to give them a spot on your dinner table! Her are are top tips for choosing and working with sweet potatoes, plus some new ways to use them in the kitchen.

Look for: Sweet potatoes are available year-round, but their true seasons are fall and winter. Choose firm, unblemished sweet potatoes without any breaks in their thin skin. They do not keep well; store them in a cool, dark place, but plan to use them within a week or so.

Prep tips: To bake whole sweet potatoes, scrub them well first and prick their skins in a few places with a fork. Place them on a baking sheet to catch their juices, and bake in a preheated 400°F oven until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 45 minutes. They can then be peeled and sliced or cut into chunks for glazing, or pureed. You can also peel uncooked sweet potatoes and cook them in salted boiling water until tender before glazing or pureeing.

Uses: Sweet potatoes are a staple of Southern and tropical cooking. They are delicious cubed and roasted with other root vegetables or added to stews and soups. They can be substituted for regular potatoes in many recipes, where roasting, baking, frying, stewing or steaming highlight their rich flavor and firm texture. They will contribute more moisture than regular potatoes, so expect a slightly different texture in the finished dish.

Variations: The typical sweet potato typically has either yellow-brown skin and yellow flesh, or dark reddish or purplish skin and dark orange flesh. Specialty varieties include white-fleshed, beige-skinned Japanese Sweet; Louisiana’s famous copper colored Beauregard; the deep red-orange Jewel; the red-purple Carolina Ruby; and the long, narrow, batata originally from the Caribbean.

Ingredient Spotlight: Sweet Potatoes | Williams-Sonoma Taste:
Recipe!
- Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic and Herbs
- Sweet Potato and Leek Custard
- Roasted Pumpkin with Garlic, Sweet Potatoes and Cherry Tomatoes
- Sweet Potato Mash
- Cinnamon-Crunch Sweet Potato Muffins

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