Japanese Yams

[Xochitl10]

On 7/29/2016 at 8:10 AM, ktmoomau said:

I owe a huge write-up but need to get over my jet-lag to do it.  Question, does anyone know the type of sweet potato that the japanese use in tempura?  It isn't the normal variety of sweet potato you find here, and may be a type of yam.  I really liked it over our normal sweet potatoes.

I've found them at the Silver Spring WFM, as well as Maruichi in Rockville. I love being able to get one, bake it, and eat it hot out of the oven. Just like the ones I used to buy at the supermarket in Kitakami.

[ktmoomau]

On 7/31/2016 at 11:04 AM, Xochitl10 said:

I've found them at the Silver Spring WFM, as well as Maruichi in Rockville. I love being able to get one, bake it, and eat it hot out of the oven. Just like the ones I used to buy at the supermarket in Kitakami.

Do you know if they are the Kotobuki variety or oriental?  I will try to buy one and figure it out, my cousin loved them and doesn't like the typical variety served here, her father is a big gardener and may grow some for her in the future.

[Xochitl10]

On 8/1/2016 at 11:24 AM, ktmoomau said:

Do you know if they are the Kotobuki variety or oriental?  I will try to buy one and figure it out, my cousin loved them and doesn't like the typical variety served here, her father is a big gardener and may grow some for her in the future.

I only know them as satsuma-imo (さつま芋), but Googling convinces me that they are the Oriental varietal. Kotobuki appear to be browner in both flesh and skin.

[DonRocks]

On 7/29/2016 at 8:10 AM, ktmoomau said:

I owe a huge write-up but need to get over my jet-lag to do it.  Question, does anyone know the type of sweet potato that the japanese use in tempura?  It isn't the normal variety of sweet potato you find here, and may be a type of yam.  I really liked it over our normal sweet potatoes.

I might have seen these today at Whole Foods Falls Church - in fact, I might be eating one right now. They were marked as being organic and from California, but to the best of my reading ability, they were scribbled as being "Japanese Yams" - they're dark brownish-red, with an ivory-colored interior - very fibrous and starchy, dense and heavy, in a yucca-kind of way. If I hadn't baked these myself, I'd swear there was an ever-so-slight touch of nutmeg in them. They don't taste like regular yams, and do taste like the type of yams you see as tempura in Japanese restaurants, but mine are baked so it's hard to tell - plus, the distance of time and all that. This is exactly what they look like - they are *extremely* filling.

[Xochitl10]

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

I might have seen these today at Whole Foods Falls Church - in fact, I might be eating one right now. They were marked as being organic and from California, but to the best of my reading ability, they were scribbled as being "Japanese Yams" - they're dark brownish-red, with an ivory-colored interior - very fibrous and starchy, dense and heavy, in a yucca-kind of way. If I hadn't baked these myself, I'd swear there was an ever-so-slight touch of nutmeg in them. They don't taste like regular yams, and do taste like the type of yams you see as tempura in Japanese restaurants, but mine are baked so it's hard to tell - plus, the distance of time and all that. This is exactly what they look like - they are *extremely* filling.

That is exactly it. Isn't it delicious? In my opinion, they're best eaten wrapped in foil and freshly plucked from a wood fire in the back of some guy's truck, on a super-cold night of drinking and karaoke.  

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, ktmoomau said:

Thanks Don for the yams, going to be adventurous this weekend or early next week and try to make tempura as I have the perfect veggies for it, my friend's birthday is today, but she is gone, but I would love to make her soba and tempura for her return birthday celebration.

You might want to check WF Falls Church this week if you want some more (I had 3 that I gave Katelin) - they had a LOT of them a couple days ago. Organic, California-grown, "Japanese Sweet Potato" they're called. $2.29 a pound if I remember.

They're sort of in the middle of a large rack, so you need to look carefully for them - there are other, similar-looking yams and sweet potatoes in the same area, but they're not identical.

[DonRocks]

On 8/9/2016 at 6:46 PM, DonRocks said:

I might have seen these today at Whole Foods Falls Church - in fact, I might be eating one right now. They were marked as being organic and from California, but to the best of my reading ability, they were scribbled as being "Japanese Yams" - they're dark brownish-red, with an ivory-colored interior - very fibrous and starchy, dense and heavy, in a yucca-kind of way. If I hadn't baked these myself, I'd swear there was an ever-so-slight touch of nutmeg in them. They don't taste like regular yams, and do taste like the type of yams you see as tempura in Japanese restaurants, but mine are baked so it's hard to tell - plus, the distance of time and all that. This is exactly what they look like - they are *extremely* filling.

[I went ahead and carved out this subset of posts from the Japan Thread in The Intrepid Traveler Forum.]

I bought some Japanese Yams today (organic, from California) thinking they'd be exactly what I described in my Aug 9 post, but look what I found inside! 

The one on the left is the Japanese Yam; the one on the right is a Garnet Yam - the picture doesn't quite do the depth of the purple color justice, but it's precisely the color of German cabbage.

[Xochitl10]

On 10/17/2016 at 8:43 PM, DonRocks said:

The one on the left is the Japanese Yam; the one on the right is a Garnet Yam - the picture doesn't quite do the depth of the purple color justice, but it's precisely the color of German cabbage.

That is fascinating -- I've never seen an all-purple J-sweet potato. Wikipedia Japan tells me it's called beni-imo (紅芋; "purple yam") in Japanese and is a yam grown in Okinawa. What did it taste like?

[squidsdc]

I recall posting about this before, but can't recall which thread--perhaps something to do with Hawaii? Because the purple japanese sweet potato is the Okinawan Sweet Potato, and also a version of it is called a Hawaiian Sweet Potato. The best way I can describe it's taste is a combination of chestnuts and sweet Jerusalem artichoke. They are pale when raw, but turn the beautiful purple when cooked. There are other versions as well, which we've been purchasing usually from Asian markets such as H-Mart. Most recently we found a version at the Shop Rite in Silver Spring. Still same beautiful purple color, but a bit different flavor.

And whenever we are in Hawaii, we make it a point to purchase a Sweet Potato Haupia pie from Ani's-- it is phenomenal. Here's just one recipe, and pics that show the uncooked potatoes as well as the pie to drool over...

 

[DonRocks]

9 hours ago, Xochitl10 said:

That is fascinating -- I've never seen an all-purple J-sweet potato. Wikipedia Japan tells me it's called beni-imo (紅芋; "purple yam") in Japanese and is a yam grown in Okinawa. What did it taste like?

It had a thicker skin, and less of a nutmeg taste than the ivory-colored yam, but was still clearly in the yam family while being dense, quite dry, and faintly sweet. 

I should add that I've bought them again, and they were once again ivory. Note that these have *all* been grown in California. I had cut the tips off before roasting, and I *think* I noticed the purple color then, but I don't remember if it was pale or dark.

I'm not convinced mine were Okinawan, because the skin of mine was much darker, even when raw; yet, the sign clearly said "Japanese Sweet Potato" (note that Okinawa is a *long* way from Honshu - over 1,000 miles).

Mine had skins the color of what is termed "Molokai Sweet Potato" in this picture - a dark, reddish brown. Some were *extremely long and thin* (as you can see in that picture). "Chestnut" is good for describing some of the flavors in it - I'm pretty sure mine were Molokai; not Okinawa, based on these pictures.

This shows that they may well be two separate things. Who knows? Maybe Father Damien himself was eating these, long ago.

"The Okinawan Sweet Potato: A Purple Powerhouse of Nutrition" by Tracy Ternes on downtoearth.org

squidsdc, your post is here.

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Look, I know this might sound kind of gross, but I try to eat healthy when I cook for myself, and these Molokai yams in particular are quite dry. Adding some lowfat cottage cheese (instead of butter or sour cream) and soy sauce really makes for a wonderful vegetarian meal (*), and don't knock the cottage cheese until you try it - I first used cottage cheese in baked potatoes thirty years ago, and prefer it to sour cream or yogurt, especially with a few splashes of soy sauce - this combination really compensates for the lack of moisture and salt.

(*) To be honest, I generally serve them alongside baked, boneless, skinless chicken thighs (breasts are fine too, but the potatoes absorb the juices from the thighs, and it adds flavor), also delicious with some soy sauce and lowfat cottage cheese. I know things are better on-bone, but I go for practicality over pure flavor sometimes - never, *ever* microwave this dish (it changes the texture); always bake it at 450 for 60-70 minutes. Some people don't like wrapping things in aluminum foil, but I do anyway; I use the soy (liberally - the dish needs salt and moisture) as a finishing agent only, but you can bake the chicken with it too, and be careful with your foil wrap, as it has more tendency to leak - I recommend waiting until the end to add both the soy and certainly the cottage cheese. You can have yourself a 2-3 pound bowl of food with only about 1,000 calories - it's a great post-workout meal that keeps you full for hours, and even tastes good if it cools down to room temperature. For some variety, you can peel an onion, gore a funnel-shaped hole in the center, fill it with soy sauce, wrap it (tightly) in foil, and bake it for 20-25 minutes. Even frozen Brussels sprouts are good thrown into this one-bowl dish (soy does wonders for them, too). You might be surprised how addicted you get to this meal, and wonder how on earth you could possibly be losing weight when you're eating such vast quantities of food (the onion and Brussels sprouts are optional, but the Brussels sprouts *really* fill you up) - note, you can also use Russets in addition to (or instead of) sweet potatoes or yams - Yukon Golds don't absorb the juices as well. I buy everything organic, and use lowfat cottage cheese and low-sodium, wheat-free soy sauce, but that's personal preference. If you're faced with a particularly thick potato, you might have to cook that an extra ten minutes alone, but never longer than 75 minutes total - if you're desperate for time at the end, you can *finish* the potatoes in the microwave for five minutes (unwrap and mash them first unless you enjoy seeing sparks fly), but that's only as a desperation measure, and isn't optimal. I prefer fork-smashing the potatoes at the end so they can better absorb the moisturizing agents I add, and also cool down a little bit. Put the potatoes on the bottom of your bowl (it needs to be a mixing bowl, because this is a large dish).