Last weekend we harvested some white skin and flesh sweet potatoes planted from tubers last November. I have no idea if it has other name or what variety it is. I bought the tubers from Gepps Cross Market. It is another new experiment in the garden and to satisfy this student gardener curiosity on growing them. See how different these white and red/brown sweet potatoes when laid side by side.
Before we harvested those white sweet potatoes the patch look like this. Now we have planted shallots and potato onions on this patch. This is the first time we are trying to grow them too. Hopefully they grow well.
This was the cut section tuber that had some eyes which sprouted young sweet potato shoots. Since it was kind of late for me to wait until they sprouted shoots to cut some slips, I just chuck in this tuber that seems to contain some eyes straight into the patch where I wanted them to grow in the warmest soil in the garden. Oh I know excuses, I was lazy. Surprisingly in less than 2 weeks young shoots have pushed it way out from the soil. Originally the tuber size was a quarter of the size from the tuber shown. It must have grown bigger. I noticed that some of my harvested sweet potatoes has big crack or split on it. Must be due to the gap of lack of water and many rains like tomatoes, just my assumption. Do you know why?
White sweet potato and red/brown sweet potato leaf shapes are very different you can differentiate them easily. On the left is red/brown sweet potato plant and on the right is white sweet potato. White sweet potato leaf are more maple-like whereas red/brown sweet potato leaf are like heart-shaped.
White sweet potato flower bud.
It was a nice surprise that white sweet potato plants produce flower in our garden whereas the red/brown sweet potatoes did not at all in any season. I did know that some sweet potato have flowers from one of this good vegetable gardening book I have read. But it was still unexpected to see them really bloom in our garden. You can even grow sweet potatoes from seeds if you managed to find them in between these heaps of leaf veins.
White sweet potato flower which resemble morning glory because they belong to the same family.
Unlike red/brown sweet potatoes which can be invasive due to their veins nodes can quickly sprouted roots to grow more tubers this way or new plants, white sweet potato plants does not have very visible nodes. So to satisfy my curiosity, I have cut some young shoots which look like have tiny nodes on it and put it in water to see whether any root will sprout. It is still in progress. Moreover the water might be cold now even indoors to sprout. It is possible this experiment will have to continue again when spring comes.
What does white sweet potatoes taste like?
Sorry, no idea this will be our first taste.
Since the gardener and cook have school, the tasting have to be postponed until this weekend.
I was thinking of frying it like pisang goreng (banana fritters).
I've never heard of white sweet potatoes before. Interesting to find out if they taste similar.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I've never seen white sweet potatoes either. Must admit I've never grown any sweet potatoes at all but they have a lovely flower!
ReplyDeleteYum. I love sweet potatoes. Our season isn't very long so they don't grow well here, but someday I might try anyway.
ReplyDeleteIn our shops we get two types of Sweet Potato: one has reddish skin and orange flesh; the other has light brown skin and creamy-white flesh. I like the orange-fleshed one best, the white one can be a bit tasteless.
ReplyDeleteI never heard / hear about sweet white potataoes too! Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe flower looks sweet, hope the fruit is sweet too. Taste like what?.. share ya.... :)~
ReplyDeleteTheir leaves are really insteresting! The flower looks like my ornamental type. I hope your fritters are going to really yummy :-D Have a good time at school!
ReplyDeleteI've never tasted the white one before, will be very interested to see how it tastes! And the leaves of the two colours are so different, how interesting.
ReplyDeleteAll I can say is Yum! I'd love to try growing them here but I think its too cold and not humid enough? I find the white one has a less creamy texture than the orange sweet potato but is especially tasty roasted in the oven. mmm
ReplyDeleteMKG dear,
ReplyDeleteBesides the fritters, try making pengat with it. yummm..... purrr....meow!
ubi keledek putih rasanya lebih tawar sementara keledek merah atau kuning rasanya manis dan lebih sedap.Keledek putih selalunya dimasak lemak dengan pucuk manis atau pucuk keledek.Orang pantai timur suka masak lemak keledek..
ReplyDeletebahan-bahannya..keledek,pucuk keledek,santan,lada hitam,bawang merah dan isi ikan rebus..sedap..cuba lah:)
Your sweet potato plot does not look very big, but you have good harvest from that space! I have not eaten white sweet potato before, let us know how it taste like. Cik Manggis recommend masak lemak, looks like lemak putih, yummy with sambal belacan!
ReplyDeleteHow pretty, the flower does look like seripagi! I just made kuih keria today with purple sweet potato (but white skin), mmmm. Is this white sweet potato purple inside? Or white? Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteisi ikan ditumbuk dengan lada hitam dan bawang merah.pucuk keledek tak perlu celur.Terus masukkan semua sekali gus..masukkan garam dan gula..gula wajib bagi orang kelantan:)..keledek potong kecik tapi jgn terlalu kecik sebab biasanya keledek putih cepat empuk.
ReplyDeleteI've never had white sweet potatoes! I'm so curious! I haven't had sweet potatoes in forever....maybe I'll go buy some tonight:) I'll be looking forward to see how your family likes them!
ReplyDeleteThose white potatoes are a staple here in our diet. Rather bland but nice and starchy. We eat them with lots of butter or sour cream. Not the best way I'm sure but good. Enjoy them!
ReplyDeleteWe are growing both white and orange sweet potatoes this year. I have never grown the white variety before but the white potatoes we have purchased from the store are much sweeter tasting than the orange. Hope mine turn out looking like yours and I will be curious to hear if you like the orange or white ones better...I like them both.:)
ReplyDeleteCher~I think they taste a bit different from the common ones that we get easily from the store.
ReplyDeleteSue~The flowers are really pretty. With that many foliage might think that it is a wildflower.
Daphne~Just try. Its hard to know each summer will be suddenly so warm or cold. We had cold summer this year and especially autumn.
Mark~Usually the orange ones are much sweeter.
Malar~ I think you can get them in Msia too but it is seldom seen in the pasar malam. If you happened to saw them don't forget to grab some.
Milka~More starchy, more lemak than the usual one in the market. Sweet but not as sweet as the orange one-lah. But since I don't really like very sweet thing. It is perfect for me ;-).
Stephanie~I heard the ornamental ones also produce tubers. Is it true?
Kat~Yes the leaves are very different. But I have not eaten the white sweet potato shoots yet.
Phoebe~I think humidity won't be a problem at your place. Since its not that much humid here. But I think sweet potato can grow really well in 20's as well. We had some late planted plants it still produce some tubers.
Cat-from-Sydney~Lupa pula mcm mana nak buat pengat.
Cikmanggis~ Ni lebur-lebur je kan bahan-bahannya. Moga-moga nelayan kami yang beriya-iya nak turun laut dengan kawan korea dia esok dapat jugalah ikan. Sepupu saya tadi pergi masukkan keledek putih ni dalam sup tulang sebab kentang takde. Rasa lemak dan manis juga. Mungkin sebab baru digali lagi. Kami puasa kentang CM selagi yg ditanam tak berhasil lagi.
Charmcitybalconygarden~ Enjoy your sweet potato!
Tina~I found that it was more starchy that other sweet potato at lunch today.
Mr. H~ I found that white sweet potatoes taste sweet too. I think it has more starch in it? I can't describe really well. But I suspect that white sweet potato might not keep long as the orange one? Hope you can share your experience later with us about both of these sweet potatoes.