Besides being naturally sweet, they have antioxidant properties and are a good source of Vitamin A. And the sweetness means these potatoes can be used in everything from pizza crust to biscuits to candy.
Sweet potatoes are also good side dishes for a variety of proteins. Sweet potato fries or chips are both easy to make. If you'd rather create the fall equivalent of fruit salsa, consider a sweet potato and black bean salad with chili dressing.
You
wouldn't believe it, but one of the most interesting cocktails I
ever drank was made with sweet-potato infused vodka -- a twist on the
classic plain old potato vodka. It's a fairly complicated home
recipe, but the understated sweetness makes it less of
a gimmick drink and more of a potentially worthy experiment.
This sweet potato cocktail pairs vanilla with sweet potato. This sweet potato pie cocktail recipe swaps in rum for a neutral grain spirit (such as Everclear) and has hints of cinnamon and nutmeg.
When is the right time for sweet potatoes? It might be right now. Because as the late comedian Mitch Hedburg noted, sometimes you should just put a potato in the oven, even if you're not hungry. Because by the time's it done, who knows.
[Image via Flickr: happyvia]
