Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Purple Sweet Potatoes

The winter solstice for us is the beginning point of our year so this year our celebration included buying a 40 pound case of organic purple sweet potatoes. We spent the rainy day pressure cooking and bagging them for freezing. For those of you who might be interested in our process, we’ve posted a few pictures.
We like the flavor of these much better than the orange flesh varieties, and there's a big nutrition bonus in this variety, they are very high in cancer fighting antioxidants. Almost anytime you see this beautiful dark purple color in a vegetable or fruit such as beets, red cabbage, blueberries, concord grapes, goji berries, blackberries, etc., it means it’s loaded with antioxidants.
40 pound case of organic purple sweet potatoes.

Potatoes before washing: notice the produce code starts with the number 9 meaning these are organically grown.

After washing in a 10% salt water solution and scrubbing the skin with a brush, then rinsing afterward. Salt water removes any pesticide residue and kills other organic toxins like E. coli and salmonella.

We cut the potatoes in half, then quarters, then cube for pressure cooking.

Cubes ready to cook.

Into the pressure cooker with 1 cup of water, cook at high pressure for 6 minutes, quick pressure release.

Drain the potatoes retaining the wonderful tasting, antioxidant rich "pot liquor" to drink later. We let the potatoes cool in a pan, then spoon into freezer storage bags, about 2 cups per bag. We plan to eat one bag of these between us every two days.

Solstice project complete. Two months worth of purple sweet potato superfood bound for the freezer.

This is our reward: Gorgeous deep purple sweet potatoes with a drizzle of maple syrup, home made pumpkin pie spice, and pecan pieces sprinkled on top, yum!