Last week I took advantage of a local import grocery store's email ordering and free delivery. Among other things, I ordered several sweet potatoes. I have ordered sweet potatoes from this store before, so I know they carry them, and I entered the product code for them when I placed my order. When the order came later that day, I noticed that the sweet potatoes seemed a little small, but I thought nothing of it until I peeled and began cubing them today and found this:
Well, I don't know if I've been missing something, but I hadn't seen these before. They certainly weren't the deep orange color I was expecting. I had heard of purple potatoes... but I guess I'd never really seen one. Is this a purple potato? After the bright color was revealed, I went back to the price sticker on the plastic bag the potatoes came in to see what they were called. There was a Chinese name, in characters, and then underneath it said, "Tianmuzishu." Is there another name for this tuberous veggie? And have you cooked with it?
I just tossed the purple contents of my cutting board into the crockpot with the other veggies and beef that were to form our stew for dinner tonight. By the time we had dinner, the purple had blended in with everything else and had no distinctive flavor. So, no harm done. I'll have to try the remaining two tianmuzishus on their own and let you know what they are like!
7 comments:
it is a beet.
Looks like a beet to me, but the shape is a little different.
I considered beet, but this veggie is pointed on both ends and does not have the place where the leafy portion of the beet growth would have been cut off. Not quite as deep purple as a beet, either.
Hmmmm.
I love this. I love that you just swept it into the pot, Lynne. That is so very Lynne of you.
And I love the comment from Anonymous. Really, it makes me chuckle. "it is a beet." I don't doubt that anonymous is correct, I just like the sentence. I'm going to say it. A lot.
it is a beet.
"It is a beet," that is so Rebecca of you to pick up on that :-)
I thought we picked you up some of these at the organic farm? We really like these. I think they are called a purple yam in English. They are originally from Japan. My mother buys them in the US at an Asian food store. Yams are usually tubal (a root crop) and sweet potatoes are more big and oval , also the inside color is different here. We eat these very plain by steaming or boiling, with skin on. If they are fresh and in season, they are very very sweet! But remember uncooked yams are toxic and wild yams are too (though I don't know how much you have to eat for them to be bad for you). May you find many more exotic foods to stir your taste buds! Lisa
Just so's you know, several of my students are also now saying "it is a beet." We all think this is very funny. Very.
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