Hot sweet potato snacks on cold days

It has been cold recently. The other day, when I visited my relative’s house, my aunt set out a snack for me. It was dried sweet potatoes warmed up in the microwave oven. They had a beautiful color and looked fine.

Though I like dried sweet potatoes, I usually eat them straight out of the pack. So, this may have been my first time to eat warmed ones. They were soft, sweet, and suitable to eat on a cold day! Since they had a viscous texture, I thought that they were surely Annoimo, a kind of sweet potatoes known for its sweetness and viscosity. Later, I heard that they were Beniharuka, which is also a popular kind of sweet potatoes with a rich taste.

After that I felt like eating some more sweet potatoes. So, I bought annoimo today in the basement of May One in the station building. Annoimo are unique sweet potatoes originally grown in  Tanegashima Island of Kagoshima Prefecture. They have become popular in recent years, but not every supermarket has them at this time of year. So, I had a luck.

It is easy to distinguish Annoimo from other kinds of sweet potatoes without any label. Here you see a potato, Annoimo, and common sweet potato. Annoimo is bigger than a potato but much smaller and paler than other kinds of sweet potatoes.

It is said that the best way to eat Annoimo is to bake and they become even sweeter when baked. But it takes time to bake at home, so I cut them with an apple and cooked them together in a pot with a pinch of salt added. Finally, I sprinkled chai masala on top.

Maybe I cooked them too long because the apple slices fell apart. But Annoimo were sweet and warmed me up.