Author Topic: What potato am I eating?  (Read 1120 times)

Rispa

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What potato am I eating?
« on: July 21, 2022, 12:09:53 AM »
I wanted to try a few types of sweet potatoes to decide which one I want to grow. I thought this was purple sweet potato, but it has a dry, starchy, and nutty taste. It's also not sweet at all. What am I eating?


CarolinaZone

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2022, 09:09:44 AM »
That might be ube. It looks hairy and I haven't seen ipomea batata that was hairy. 

Elopez2027@aol.com

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2022, 01:46:07 PM »
This has got to be Malanga. Comes in white and purplish flesh. Delicious prepared in its simplicity. Boil in water with a little salt after peeling the skin. Make a Mash with some butter and a little salt or serve it hot with a Codfish salad.
It’s a tuber just like a potato and can be treated as such by baking, mashing, boiled or fried.

Elopez2027@aol.com

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2022, 01:47:15 PM »
I’m sorry, it’s called a cocoyam or yautia in English

pagnr

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2022, 06:21:38 AM »
Cocoyam is a Taro plant, or Elephant Ear, Arecacae.
Yams are vining plants,
The cooked tubers look a bit more like Yams to me, but it is hard to tell.
Uncooked Taro skin has growth rings visible, and usually a stem area on one end, like a carrot.
Yams usually have brown woody looking skin, often with filaments or hairs, no stem area on one end.
Another possibility is Cassava, which looks like a pointy Yam, but with a stem on one end ( unless cut off before sale ).
Pretty sure it is not a Sweet Potato.
This answer reminds me of aa Xmas in Tropical Australia, baked Taro, Yams, Potato, Pumpkin in a cast iron oven, over a campfire.

Rispa

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #5 on: July 24, 2022, 09:56:37 AM »
I went back and the tag said philipino purple yam. It looks like the tub or from this article, so I guess it's a type of ube. https://www.epicgardening.com/dioscorea-alata/

I'm really glad I went back. I also found the purple sweet potato that I was missing and trying to find. I will set one up growing in a pot and bring my mom a pot and one to grow too. I'm very excited about it.

pagnr

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2022, 07:26:19 PM »
How is the Purple Sweet Potato ? Is that Purple Skin, White flesh or Purple Skin, Yellow Flesh ?
I like those types with chestnut flavour.
The Japanese Satsuma Imo is one of the best of those.
There is also the Okinawa Sweet Potato. That has Purple skin and bright purple flesh.

Rispa

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2022, 04:50:44 PM »
How is the Purple Sweet Potato ? Is that Purple Skin, White flesh or Purple Skin, Yellow Flesh ?
I like those types with chestnut flavour.
The Japanese Satsuma Imo is one of the best of those.
There is also the Okinawa Sweet Potato. That has Purple skin and bright purple flesh.

Do you have seeds for either type you recommend?

This one isn't nutty to me but the ube was. It's not as sweet as traditional orange sweet potato. It has a nice texture as though I mashed in butter or cream. It's got more additional flavor, but I don't know how to describe it. It has brown skin with a deep purple interior. I hope the leaves are pretty good. I have grown the Japanese white from the store in a bed at my old house and it took over, so I started using the leaves and they were fantastic.

pagnr

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2022, 06:07:07 PM »
I am in Australia. Better to track down tubers to propagate. IPomea sweet potatoes do set seeds too, but the new types can be slightly variable.

pineislander

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Re: What potato am I eating?
« Reply #9 on: August 07, 2022, 07:39:21 AM »
This is a type of purple Dioscorea alata. They are not sweet.