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“Slow-Baked” Sweet Potatoes

If you want to cook anything using a recipe for traditional orange sweet potatoes or yams, buy a vegetable with an orange or purple skin and orange flesh. That's really all you need to know for recipe success.

This amazingly sweet and nutritious vegetable can be baked or boiled – and, as we discovered after a bit of experimenting, you can cook up a batch conveniently in a slow cooker. Walk away, and at the end of the day you will have the perfect side dish. Any extras will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

But first you must get the right vegetable home from the store. In the supermarket produce section, you may encounter vegetables with white skin and white flesh that are labeled “sweet potatoes.” These are starchy and not very sweet, resembling a traditional potato when cooked.

You may also encounter vegetables labeled “yams” that have a brown, rough or even hairy skin and white flesh. These are true yams, which are grown in West Africa, Asia or the Caribbean, and again, are starchy and not very sweet when cooked.

The label confusion began when African slaves in the South called the sweet potato “nyami,” and the word was later shortened to yam. Although the terms are used interchangeably, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato.” However, many grocery stores do not follow this regulation.

Just remember orange or purple (garnet) skin and orange flesh for sweet goodness no matter what you call it. Stay tuned for next week's column, when we will talk about the sweet potato's amazing nutritional benefits and give you a great recipe for sweet-potato salad.

“Slow-Baked” Sweet Potatoes

4 servings

• 4 medium-size sweet potatoes (about 6 to 8 ounces each, see note)

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS

• Butter
• Maple syrup, honey or molasses
• Orange marmalade
• Miniature marshmallows
• Chopped pecans or walnuts

Rinse and dry sweet potatoes. Place them in a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Cover, cook on low until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 8 to 10 hours.

To serve, cut a slit in the top of each person's potato. Drizzle or sprinkle with toppings of your choice.

Alternate oven-cooking method: Place rinsed and dried sweet potatoes (unpeeled) on a heavy cookie sheet or other flat baking pan (lined with foil for easy cleanup), and bake in a 400-degree oven until tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 to 50 minutes depending on their size.

Start to finish: 3 minutes preparation, plus 8 to 10 hours unattended slow-cooker time.

Notes: This recipe was tested in a Rival brand Crock Pot. Cooking times for other brands may vary slightly. Allow 1 sweet potato per average appetite. Whole leftover sweet potatoes will keep in a zipper-top bag in the refrigerator for a week or more.

Per serving (without toppings): 164 calories (1 percent from fat), trace amount fat (0 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 3 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 5 g dietary fiber, 16 mg sodium.

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