Candied sweet potatoes

Candied sweet potatoes are prepared in several cultures.

History Sweet potatoes are native to the Americas. They were encountered by Christopher Columbus on Hispaniola (in modern day Haiti) on his first voyage, and by the early 16th century they had been brought back to Europe and established in areas of Spain, Italy and France. Growing poorly in the cooler areas outside of southern Europe, over the course of the 16th century sweet potatoes came to be regarded as a luxury in the continent's north. Candying small pieces was a particularly common preparation. In the mid-17th century, a dish of cooked potatoes with a sugary, buttery, and spiced topping appears in a London cookbook, which the historian Trudy Eden describes as "more than likely" intended as a sweet potato dish and the "forerunner" of the modern American dish of candied yams. It instructed cooks:

During the 19th century in the American South, a dish of candied sweet potatoes under the name "candied yams" was eaten in the American South by poor people, both white and black. Early evidence of consumption appears in the 1880s, when recipes appeared in several cookbooks. One of these, in Mary Stuart Smith's Virginia Cookery Book (1885), tells readers that by boiling or steaming sweet potatoes, slicing them, adding butter and a covering of sugar, "you can hardly have a dish on your table that will be more generally relished." By the 1960s, the dish had become associated with the New Year among African Americans from the South.

Candied yams In the United States, candied sweet potatoes are eaten as a side under the name "candied yams", though this is a misnomer. While present in the early cookery of Colonial America, over time the yam became rare.

Candied yams are prepared with butter and brown sugar, and often topped with marshmallows. The dish is eaten at Thanksgiving, and is associated with Southern and African American cooking. The association with African-American cooking is shared by African Americans and non-African Americans alike. The dish is often paired with flavours of orange, and an accompaniment of ham.

Outside of the US In the Parsi cuisine of India, candied sweet potatoes are paired with chicken. In the Philippines, candied sweet potatoes are eaten as a street food under the name camote cue. They are made by frying slices of cream-coloured sweet potato (boniato) that are coated with brown sugar and placed on skewers to serve. Immediately after frying, their exterior is crisp while the interior is soft.

Candied sweet potatoes

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