anyone....

heard or know a source for purple yam or purple sweet potato? my memory was triggered while watching a cooking show. i distinctly remember when i was young in the Philippines, my grandma would bring sack load of this when she come and visit. the meat is super deep purple inside, and very sweet. outer skin looked like black potatoes. they are long and skinny. texture of meat is like Idaho potatoes. anyone????

There are several purple sweet potatoes listed with SSE,but none with the description that you remember.

The Asian vegetable market is so untapped at this point,many treasures from the East are being ignored and in danger of becoming extinct.

Of the SSE offerings,here are a few of what I found.

One variety had 9 pound tubers and the meat wasn't sweet.

Another also had mildly sweet tubers,but they were small.One from Korea had dark purple skin,but the flesh was white.

Sorry,I couldn't help more,it sounded like something that I would have liked to have tried.I love purple veggies.

I'll keep an eye out.Also,why don't you cross post over in Heirlooms? Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is making a second Asian trip this year to search for vegetable varieties and this sounds like something he'd be extremely interested in trying to find.

thanks Melody :). i did try to do search on purple potatoes. i could not find any source. so far, a few sites mentioned about a variety from Okinawa. so far, here is what i found interesting... http://www.prevention.com/cda/feature2002/0,4780,5330,00.html

soon as i find further info i will surely post here. i will definitely try to write Jere. am sure he will also be interested on this variety. it is nice substitute for mash potatoes without the extra fat trimmings. it is not soggy or watery at all.

Great article MaVie...I love sweet potatoes.I'd rather have a baked sweet potato than a baked Idaho one!

There are several red varieties listed that are very sweet,maybe you could grow a substitute until we found the one you remember.

We need to find it though!The world needs more purple veggies!Super healthy food!

when i used to live in Los Angeles, i frequent a lot of oriental stores. one observation from a Korean market. a Korean man had a portable cart, inside the cart is filled with flat smooth rocks. rocks were very hot, some cooked potatoes were cooking. for one stone roasted potato he charged $3.00! a lot of Koreans were buying. out of curiosity, i bought one to try. the stone roasted sweet potato were so good, i never had one cooked that way before. i do not know how he heats the rocks. but he slow cooked the sweet potatoes in that portable cart. ohhh was it so good!!! i am assuming that if u slow bake any kind of potato, i will be far better than cooking in high heat.

did u know that the leaves of sweet potatoes are edible? the flavor need getting use to. i love to steam them, pour sweet and sour vignarette over the steamed leaves. it taste good far as i am concerned. the leaves are filled with lots of vitamins. my son whose born in the US loves to eat steamed sweet potato leaves.

am sure we eventually will find a source in the near future.

I found these a couple years ago at one of our local Gro. stores. Can not remember the recipe, but it was one I saw on tv as well.