A couple of weeks ago I went to the New York Produce Show for the second year in a row. It’s one of my favorite recurring events because of my love for all things fruits and vegetables; and especially for learning about new produce. The mom and daughter team (Karen & Alex) that represent second and third generation owner/operators of Frieda’s, the original specialty produce distributors, introduced me to a new product that just hit the market in November – Stoke’s Purple Sweet Potatoes. They are gorgeous and just as delicious!
For obvious reasons, I fell in love. Just because I’m allergic to artificial food coloring doesn’t mean I don’t like color. Quite the contrary, I get uber-excited about naturally colorful foods. The picture above is the color of the Stoke’s Purple Sweet Potato raw. When you cook it, it becomes an incredibly deep purple, like those dark purple irises. It gets better! They are fantastic tasting! They have that very sweet and fruity flavor like a Garnet Yam (which is actually a sweet potato) and they are dense, close to that starchier yam texture that I love. It’s the best of both worlds.
Imagine the possibilities!! I know I’ll work on other uses in the future but this time, I couldn’t help but love them just as they are, using Stoke’s recommended baking instructions: Coat with a little oil or butter and wrap in foil. Bake at 325 degrees F for 90 min. Then, I just let it cool enough to handle and cut 1″ slices and pushed cookie cutters through to cut cute shapes for Caya. Caya loved them and kept chanting “purple potato, purple potato, purple potato!”
And because I loved it so much, I really wanted one of my readers to get to try these purple sweet potatoes so I asked Frieda’s, the fabulous specialty produce company, if they would do this give-away with me and they said “Yes!” If you don’t win, you can still find out where to buy it on Frieda’s website.
Stoke’s Purple Sweet Potato Give-Away: All you have to do is leave a comment here (and a way for me to contact you) telling me what your favorite way of eating a sweet potato or yam is. Contest ends on Monday, January 7 at 2pm EST. One winner will be selected randomly shortly after.
The winner is Beth D. Congrats!!
*I did not receive any compensation for this post other than a few purple sweet potatoes to sample and photograph. I asked them to do this give-away!!
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HOW FUN!!! love foods that actually stay the color they are once they are cooked. I love savory recipes with sweet potatoes: stews, chili, and of course sweet potato fries.
you know how to reach me 😉
Love sweet potatoes baked with butter cinnamon and brown sugar… hit me on my email address
I love potatoes and these have awesome color! I would love to try them out!
We love sweet potatoes roasted as part of a root veggie medley, but they are also super tasty as the base of a hash with a runny egg on top!
I love roasted sweet potatoes.
I love sweet potato fries!
I love purple sweet potatoes in a gratin (I made one a couple of months ago and it was AMAZING), and I also want to figure out how to make purple sweet potato ice cream – I’ve had some in Japan, and really want to try to replicate it at home!
I love to make the Japanese sweet potato…just baked.
Steamed with rice porridge. My parents made this for me and it didn’t sound good but it’s the best thing on a cold winter’s day.
My new favorite way: Baked till truly done, split in half and topped with a dollop of soft goat cheese and some roasted grapes! Addictive!!!!
i love sweet potato’s .like fritters whit onions.MMMM
I would love a chance to try these.
Wow – something new, definitely scheduled to be on my table. My e-mail is the best way to reach me.
Thanks for keeping us all in mind and sharing!
japanese yaki-imo style!
For Christmas I mashed some with goat cheese. It was delicious.
we Filipinos LOVE LOVE purple yams! we use it in ice cream and many other desserts! my favorite is the purple yam (ube) ice cream – almost tastes like taro ice cream – mmmm, mmmmm!
I understand the contest is over. I just want to say how much our family enjoy the purple potato. We eat the young leaves as vegetables and the tuber. The only place we get the purple potato is in the oriental store here in Dallas, but for some reason, the purple sweet potato does not grow. I’ve been hunting for a purple flesh sweet potato for a few years now, but this is the first I’ve heard about all purple. Are they the same taste. Just the mention of all purple is making my mouth watery. We just Love the word Purple!
We grow our own vegetables from asparagus, long green and purple beans, spinach, purple okra and green ones, bananas, and I can go on. Thank you for letting me express how much we love sweet purple potato. Good day. 🙂
lz, I think the one you buy from the oriental market is probably a yam. It is starchy? I love those! …and totally agree. I love everything purple. Have you tried purple kohlrabi? purple cauliflower? As for the Stoke’s purple sweet potato, these are new. They are not as starchy as yams though these are denser than the orange sweet potatoes. I’ve never had purple beans or purple okra! Wow!