Sweetpotato VS Pumpkin
The Chicago Sun-Times’ recent article entitled Food Fight: Pumpkin vs Sweetpotato Pie attempts to outline the differences between the two Thanksgiving desserts. What makes sweetpotato pie different from a pumpkin pie? The article says that sweetpotato pie is lighter on the spices and texture and is sweetened with molasses, while pumpkin pie is all about the spices. If you think about it, pumpkin without all the sugar and spices would be pretty bland. Lucky for us, sweetpotatoes are naturally sweet and can survive, and in fact be pretty darn tasty, without any sugar or spices, which I think is the most important difference between the two.
Felix Salmon, a finance blogger at Reuters, investigated the rise in pumpkin-related dishes on menus in 2012 and found that most of the ‘pumpkin dishes’ didn’t even have pumpkin in them.
“Pumpkin is a way of saying sugar, and nutmeg, and clove, and cinnamon, and all those autumnal spices. It’s not really about pumpkin at all. People don’t actually like the taste of pumpkin,” Salmon says. “They like the taste of fall.” We sweetpotato lovers know that sweetpotatoes have a flavor all of its own, maybe that’s why they survive on menus year-round rather than just in the fall. Read more about Felix’s investigation here.
The Commission is working on a signature sweetpotato pie recipe for you, but in the meantime check out this rum-laced one by Ruth Reichl!
Sweetpotato Pie
by Ruth Reichl for Epicurious
- 2 medium sweetpotatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds)
- 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon dark rum
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prick the sweetpotatoes with a fork and roast them on a shallow baking pan in the middle of the oven until very tender, about 1-1/4 hours. Cool to room temperature.
- Raise the oven temperature to 400°F, and place a shallow baking pan on the bottom rack.
- Scoop the flesh from potatoes into a bowl and discard the skins. Mash the sweetpotatoes with a fork until smooth. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Add the melted butter mixture to the sweetpotatoes with the milk and the eggs and beat with a whisk until smooth. Whisk in the remaining ingredients (the filling will be quite liquid). Pour the filling into the pie shell.
- Carefully transfer the pie to the heated shallow baking pan on the bottom rack of the oven and bake until the filling is just set, about 40 minutes. Transfer the pie to a rack to cool.