Photo: FotoosVanRobin (Flickr)
These sweet potatoes are often mistaken for yams in the U.S., but the two veggies aren't even distantly related.
Shopping At The Market
We’re talking yams and sweet potatoes today. So first things first, let’s pick some up from the Bloomington Winter Farmers Market. I stopped by one of the busiest tables manned by Marcia Veldman of Meadowlark Farms. She’s selling gigantic sweet potatoes, herbs and greens like Swiss chard and mustard greens.
One table over, I picked up some parsnips for this first recipe. In this soup recipe, we’re using a part of the sweet potato plant you may never have eaten before: the leaves.
Living And Eating Together
Cooperate Living and Ecovillages seem to be popping up around Bloomington. The city recently approved one group to build a village of 10 houses on the west side Bloomington.
But for the last story in a three part series on cooperative living, WFIU’s Gretchen Frazee went to the other side of the city to visit the Green Acres Neighborhood Garden where neighbors and students share work and food. Instead of building a new village, they’re trying to re-envision an existing neighborhood.
Three Types Of Tubers
Around St. Patrick’s Day, Chef Daniel Orr fills up his baskets with potato seeds. Then when you’re ready to make that potato salad for Fourth of July, they’ll be ready.
Sweet potatoes and yams have come to mean the same thing in the U.S. but in reality yams aren’t even distantly related to sweet potatoes. They grow well in tropical climates, and they’re much larger and generally considered to be much sweeter than sweet potatoes. Yams are starting to appear more and more at markets in the U.S., so keep your eye out for one and then make this tasty and very quick recipe: Yams with Goat Cheese.
News Stories In This Show:
- Bill Gates And Monsanto Team Up To Fight World Hunger
- Gates Foundation Gives $70 Million To Address World Food Crisis
- Assessing The Additives
Stories On This Episode
Meet A Farmer: Marcia Veldman, Meadowlark Farm
Customers visit the Meadowlark Farm table to buy sweet potatoes and leafy greens. Friendly conversations are free of charge.
Parsnip Soup With Sweet Potato Leaves
Celebrate the cold weather by making a soup with some seasonal ingredients: parsnips and sweet potato leaves.
Neighbor Garden Is A Vision For Larger Cooperative Movement
Green Acres is a neighborhood which some of its residents envision could be an ecovillage.
Christine Barbour Knows Sweet Potatoes
Christine Barbour thinks sweet potatoes are amazing vegetables. She describes many tasty ways to prepare them, and she shares her mom's Thanksgiving recipe.
Quick And Healthy: Yams With Goat Cheese
Yams are a powerhouse of nutrients. As compared to their distant cousin the potato, yams have a lower glycemic index, so they also help you stay fuller longer.
