Purple Sweet Potatoes!

One of the foods I’ve really missed while living on this little island in the South Pacific is sweet potatoes.  Especially around Thanksgiving time!  But anytime really, one of my favorite foods is baked sweet potatoes!  Unfortunately though, it’s not a food they ship out here.  BUT I just discovered a local food I’d never tried!  Purple sweet potatoes!  I’ve heard of local sweet potatoes but had never seen them before and didn’t think they would be anything like what I was used to.  But yesterday as I was picking up some groceries I saw these strange looking purple things (looked similar to a regular sweet potato but purple instead of orange!) and asked what they were.  The lady looked at me like I was crazy and said “sweet potatoes!”.  I decided I needed to try this “new” food!  So I bought a few to try out and cooked them for lunch today.  Amazing!!!!  So glad I discovered this!  Tastes a LOT like the sweet potatoes we get in the US!  My kids loved them too, so we’ll definitely be getting some more soon!  I did a little research and found that purple sweet potatoes have cancer fighting properties in them!  Also, I remember reading a book not too long ago about a family that moved to this island BEFORE WWII and were prisoners of war for several years.  At one point, for a period of about six months, they had NOTHING to eat except these local sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves!  (The book is “Island Traders:  Memories of the Carlos Etscheit Family” by Yvette Etscheit Adams – excellent book if you are ever able to get a copy of it!).  

I’m not sure where you would be able to find these in the States but if not in a regular grocery store, probably in specialty stores, health food stores, or Asian grocery stores.  Give it a try if you can find some!