Culinary Literacy: Purple Sweet Potato Pie

The Purple Sweet Potato of Mystery

Sweet potatoes belong to the Morning Glory family. The Stokes Purple in my recipe is a new variety of deep purple sweet potato grown in North Carolina as a new hybrid of the original natives of tropical Americas, Polynesia, and Hawaii. Sweet potatoes were cultivated thousands of years ago and were among the earliest of all domesticated plants. In our region, sweet potatoes, including Purple Stokes, are available in the late fall through early spring. They can be baked, steamed, or roasted, and they make a very tasty and beautiful pie.

They Are Super Nutritious

All sweet potatoes are higher in antioxidants and have a lower glycemic index than conventional potatoes. The most nutritious varieties are those with purple flesh. Their vibrant purple, deep-hued coloring comes from the phytochemical anthocyanin (just like blueberries) and vitamin C, both of which are powerful antioxidants. They have four times the amount of Vitamin C as orange sweet potatoes.

Purple sweet potato pie – a modern take on the classic

Ingredients:

(Shortcuts are OK. I used a pre-made frozen pie crust).

1 pre-made pie crust

2 ½ cups baked purple potatoes (about 2 middle-sized Stokes potatoes)

2 Tbsp maple syrup

3 Tbsp butter (softened)

3 eggs

½ can full cream coconut milk

¼ cut vanilla sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp salt

1 cup whipping cream

Pie weights for baking

Baking Instructions:

Cross-section of baked and slightly cooled purple potato.

Bake two medium-sized Stokes potatoes in an oven, preheated to 350F, until just about soft when perforated with a fork, about 50 to 80 minutes.

Let the frozen pie crust defrost for 20 min (or according to the package instructions). Move the oven rack to the lower position. Perforate the bottom of the pie crust with a fork so the pie will not inflate. Fill crust with pie weights and bake for 12 minutes or per packaging instructions.

Gently remove pie weights and let the pie crust surface dry. When done, the crust should be lightly golden.

Mistakes happen: Here, my flake pie edges slightly broke off, but I was able to camouflage them partially with the pie filling.

Peel, cut, and measure purple potatoes (2 ½ cups)

Using a stand mixer (or by hand), mix egg and butter until creamy.

Add three eggs and mix well.

Add 2 ½ cups of baked, cut-up, and cooled potatoes.

Add ½ can of coconut milk. Adjust the amount of coconut milk to the right consistency; not too runny, not too thick, you should be able to pour it nicely into cooled baked pie crust.