Some of Our Foods Explained

After the last entry I made, I was asked what a few American foods were.  I will try to explain them below.

Sweet Potatoes:  The sweet potato is a tuberous root vegetable particularly popular in the southern United States.  Sweet potatoes are sometimes referred to as yams.  The true yam however, is native to many African countries and it is not remotely related to the American sweet potato.  Sweet potatoes come in two varieties (orange fleshed and yellow fleshed).  Most Americans eat the orange ones.  The skin is buff to brown colored. 

We eat them boiled, but more frequently baked with butter and salt, or maybe butter and cinnamon and sugar.  Or whipped.  

And during Thanksgiving we make them really sweet and call them Candied Sweet Potatoes Or Candied Yams!

I don't have the exact measurements for the ingredients, because I am a person that just looks at things and cooks as I go, but here is the recipe I use if I want to make my version of this killer side dish:

-Open a can or two of yams (yes I know they are really sweet potatoes, but in America when you buy them in cans they say yams on them!) and put the yams in a mixing bowl
-Add a table spoon or two of butter, and mix everything up well, but leaving a few chunks
-Put this concoction in a glass baking dish and put it in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about half an hour or so.  Oops I forgot something.  Before you put it in the oven, sprinkle the yams with peacns (nuts).  A lot of them.  Cover almost the whole top with them  
-Meanwhile make the glaze that could kill you.  Put about half a bottle of Karo syrup in a sauce pan. Add a lot of brown sugar to that.  maybe a half of cup or something.  I don't remember, just make it look dark!  Add a tablespoon or two of butter.  Heat stirring constantly until it is melted and comes to a boil.  Turn down heat and simmer for about one minute. 
-When the yams are done, take them out of the oven.  Pour the glaze over the yams.  This should keep the dish hot until it is time to eat because the glaze will be heated up.  
-It tastes very yummy. 

Collard Greens:  Collard Greens are particularly popular in the southern part of the United States although they are eaten allover the US.  They are a member of the cabbage family as well as is these other greens: kale, spinach, mustard greens, and turnip greens.  Unlike kale and mustard greens they have a very mild, almost smoky flavor.

What else can I say about them?  They are well, very greeny!  You either like them or you don't.  I happen to like all the greens.  

Corn Bread:  Another Southern thing, but the whole US enjoys it and often eats it.  It is a bread made from stoned ground corn.  That hardly describes it though, because it doesn't taste like a bread.  You would have to eat it to understand the consistency.  It is heavenly with some melted butter on it.  

If you have the ingredients, please try it.  Find recipes here:
http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/breads/cornbreads/

 

Well I gotta go now, I am REALLY hungry!  I want some of that Southern cooking.  Even if I do commit heresy according to the Southerners and get my greens from the frozen section of the grocery store, lol.  Maybe I'll have some of those nice Southern grits this morning.  Bye for now, Krissy