Violet sweet potatoes fuel a purple passion

Last fall at the North Carolina State Fair, I visited for a spell with a farmer who goes by the name Pa Tater. He showed me some purple sweet potatoes and told me about their antioxidant properties.

So coveted are they, Pa Tater said, that the relatively small crop of them sells out in a weekend at local Whole Foods markets and "the kind of restaurants that have chefs." (Stokes Purple ones are grown mostly in just four counties, but, all told, the state provides 40 percent of the nation's sweet potatoes.)

My lust for purple sweet potatoes was great, but they were only on display. The man glanced around a little furtively and slipped me one to put in my bag. When I baked it, it was just as tasty as those of other colors.

I had known orange sweet potatoes, often confused with the botanically unrelated yams, and sweet potatoes with creamy, pale flesh, sweet as candy. I seek out garnet-red sweet potatoes. But I had not encountered Stokes Purples.

On Long Island, only about 10 acres are planted in sweet potatoes, and, to her knowledge, there are no purple ones - yet, said Sandy Menasha, vegetable and potato specialist for Cornell Cooperative Extension in Riverhead. She is intrigued by purple potatoes. Menasha added that smaller growers and CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture farms) are adding sweet potatoes to their crops, and consumption of locally grown ones is going up.

Stokes Purple are firm, gorgeous to behold and not the least bit stringy. Incorporated into side dishes, main dishes or desserts, the purple sweet potato has an elegant flair. Still, my favorite way to eat it is the same as for its kin, baked and buttered and tasting mostly like itself.

Read more at ncsweetpotatoes.com. To order Stokes Purples, $9 to $13 plus shipping and handling for a 20-pound box, contact sales@SauraPride.com, or call 336-593-8550.