At the end of the year, Mr. Toma (the owner of the horses) treats the children to an evening of sweet potato digging and delicious sweet potato treats afterwards! The sweet potatoes in Okinawa are very different than what Americans are used to. They are called beni imo and are a deep purple color. They also are not as sweet and the texture is a bit more fibrous. The first time I had them, I didn't care for them much, but it' grown on me-and the kids love them! We eat them at home sometimes, steaming or roasting them and adding a drizzle of honey. At Mr.Toma's, the sweet potatoes are sliced and fried into potato chips with a sprinkling of Okinawian brown sugar (also different than American brown sugar) and balled into mochi with a sesame seed coating. Both ways are equally delicious!
In the boys opinion though, the best part of the evening is riding in the back of the farm truck out to the field and then digging up the potatoes. Last year, Kieran was really too little to fully participate, but this year, he was all about the potatoes! Brendan had a blast this year too-he was quite independent and kept shouting out each time he found a potato. Both boys ended up pretty dirty-as expected! Dirt plus shovels? Of course!
After the potato picking, the boys washed up and dug into the food that the families had brought to share. They both ate a few fistfuls of the sweet potato chips and of course, cake. Kieran is quite the cakeaholic and I'm pretty sure he can hear the word cake from a mile away!
After a tiring evening we headed home to baths and bed...but not before we got 2 big bags of sweet potato chips from Mr. Toma and his wife!
1 comment:
This is awesome! I would love to be there and I would love to try japanese sweet potatoes too. Yum!
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