Why archaeologists are arguing about sweet potatoes

www.popsci.com ^ | 04/13/2018 | Staff

[dfwgator]

“It’s not a question of where he grips it! It’s a simple question of weight ratios!”

[Rebelbase]

I’d hate to be a bird and pass a sweet potato. Ouch!

[Lazamataz]

In the south, we fry ‘em,

Secrets, please. I have -- to date -- been unsuccessful.

[Rebelbase]

Sweet potato article about a former NFL player who quit to become a farmer and grow sweet potatoes, donating a portion of the first harvest to food banks. He learned to farm watching youtube videos.

Former NFL star dumped 20 tons of sweet potatoes on a Chapel Hill lawn – with good intent

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article199489679.html

[V K Lee]

Fried:
This is from Blue Mesa Grill, served as a restaurant would serve tortilla chips - and just as delicious.
https://bluemesagrill.com/2016/04/06/sweet-potato-chips/

Have sliced them a bit thicker, 1/4” and fried till dark and crisp on the outside, soft in the center. Sprinkle cinnamon/granulated sugar mixture and dig in.

Baked:
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/baked-sweet-potatoes
NOTE: when cooking the sugar oozes from the pierced skins (best to line pan with aluminum foil)
Prefer to bake and serve with butter only, leaving the cinnamon/sugar, maple syrup to the other guests.

Sweet Potato Souffle:
BTW - contrary to popular belief, few really appreciate marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes.
https://www.southernliving.com/dish/casserole/kathy-g-sweet-potato-casserole-praline-topping-video

Sweet Potato Pie:
Tastes much like Pumpkin Pie
https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/sweet-potato-pie

Unlike Whites,Idaho or Russet, it is not recommended you eat sweet potato skins. For mashed sweet potatoes, bake in oven and skin, mash them with butter and seasonings (your preference)and a bit of cream. No gravy needed, have yet to find one that enhances the flavor.

Sweet Potato varieties
http://www.all-about-sweet-potatoes.com/sweet-potato-varieties.html

23 Different Recipes for Sweet Potatoes
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/ideas/best-sweet-potato-recipes-6225?c=15886

PS You can also use the baked, mashed sweet potato in waffles or pancake batter:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/sweet-potato-waffles-recipe-2013843

Here’s to Good Eats.

[blam]

"There is every reason to believe, but no definitive proof, that the megalithic structures underwater off Japan were made by the Jomon, who predate the melting of the glaciers of the Ice Age."

I'm a big fan of the Jomon but, I don't believe those structures are man made. There are many just like them nearby on land....and, they're natural.

[PIF]

Could be, then again there is only conjecture (belief/theory) one way or another, like the leveled mountain top in Romania with an outcropping that looks like a carved Neanderthal head ... was it carved or is it just erosion?

[blam]

"A yam is an African sweet potato, there are some differences between what we typically call yams and what we call sweet potatoes."

The slaves from Africa, upon encountering the sweet potato, called it a yam because it resembled yams from their country.

[blam]

African Tuber Of Yam

[RegulatorCountry]

I’d understoood that they actually were African yams that got here the same way okra did, they brought seed pouches. A sweet potato plant and a yam plant don’t look the same and neither do the root tubers. Maybe in grocery chains in other parts of the country they’re interchangable, but I’m accustomed to distinctions being made. Candied yams are served as a vegetable. Sweet potatoes are not unless baked or made like French fries, a fairly recent thing.

[blam]

Yam (Vegetable)

On Amazon, I saw 5 yam plants on sale for $40.00 plus $3.40 shipping.(15 left)

[Cold Heart]

A 2012 Brazilian study of GPT (Gut Passage Time) in various birds and seeds had the longest GPT at 60 minutes. Shortest was 6 minutes.

[D Rider]

Birds also carry seeds in their feathers. Some seeds are designed to do this. I have no idea what a sweet potato seed looks like.

[D Rider]

Birds also carry seeds in their feathers. Some seeds are designed to do this. I have no idea what a sweet potato seed looks like.

[D Rider]

They are interchangeable when cooking. Did that 40 years ago.cut the yams and sweet potatoes into disks, place them into a Pyrex baking dish in a checkerboard fashion. Cover them with brown sugar and orange juice and bake until done. Very beautiful and delicious.

[colorado tanker]

My grocery store can’t figure out if they are sweet potatoes or yams. The last few months they’s been sweet potatoes. Regardless, we’re having baked sweet potatoes with our pork chops tonight. Yum!

[gleeaikin]

“early specimens collected from Polynesia must have diverged from other tubers more than 100,000 years ago”

We have no way of knowing if people might have developed ocean transport before any struggling civilization might have been disrupted/destroyed by our most recent Ice Age.

[SunkenCiv]

The Polynesian *word* for sweet potato isn't a polynesian one, its a loanword from Precolumbian America. The sweet potato can't float its way on salt water (assuming it will float at all, for any length of time) without dying. Either the Polynesians encountered the people from Precolumbian America *in* Precolumbian America, or the Precolumbian Americas were already on at least some of the islands -- precisely what the Easter Islanders told Thor Heyerdahl.

[Red Badger]

Ice Ages make it easier for people to travel. It’s a lot easier to walk across ice than water!...............