Four Common Types of Sweet Potato Flight

Two posts in one week is a new accomplishment for me!  On my Instagram story I hinted about a sweet potato flight, and that is just what I did.  I sampled four different types of sweet potato to really find out the difference between them.  Consider me a food scientist.

From left to right: top is garnet, jewel
bottom is japanese, hannah

Four types were tested: japanese, garnet, hannah, and jewel.  I originally had a stokes purple sweet potato as well, but that was overtaken by mold in the basement... 

There are actually over 4,000 types of potatoes (Bratskeir, Kate) and over 400 types of sweet potatoes (Ernest, Danielle) according to huffpost and diynetwork, but I didn't bother for all those extra zeros and just stuck with four.  And remember, these are sweet potatoes, not yams... there's a difference!

as seen on my Instagram story

To keep variables controlled, all of the sweet potatoes were around the same size, baked at 400°F for one hour and then left in the oven turned off for 30 minutes, and tested at the same time, after sitting in the fridge overnight.

Before roasting, I observed the differences between the sweet potatoes, which mostly differed in color.  Japanese was magenta, garnet was reddish brown copper and had smooth skin, hannah was creamy tan and also had smooth skin, and jewel was orange-ish brown with rugged skin.

After roasting them, I took note of the texture, skin color, flesh color, and taste of the skin.  Then I mashed up the flesh to see how much moisture each potato held.  These videos were taken in succession on my Instagram story so it's one long video chopped into four bits!

After refrigerating overnight, my sister and I tasted them the next morning.  In between each taste of sweet potato, we had a bite of plain greek yogurt to cleanse our palettes.  

In order from left to right: japanese, garnet, hannah, jewel
plain greek yogurt on bottom

Hannah ended up being my sister's favorite while jewel was mine.  So without further ado, here are the results!

Japanese

Color: magenta skin, white yellowish creamy flesh with gray specks, flesh looks like normal potato

Texture: smooth skin, creamy, clumpy, like a normal potato

Moisture: dry

Taste: skin not as sweet, buttery, starchy, not much flavor

Aroma: smells like a normal potato

Garnet

Color: reddish brown copper skin (redder than jewel but less red than japanese), deep bright orange inside

Texture: smooth skin, soft, stringy, pulpy, less creamy

Moisture: juicy

Taste: sweet

Aroma: not a strong smell

Hannah

Color: creamy whitish tan outside, deep orange inside

Texture: smooth skin, stringy, soft

Moisture: quite juicy

Taste: sweetest, molasses/maple flavor

Aroma: strong smell

Jewel

Color: orange-ish brown skin, yellow orange flesh (lighter than hannah and garnet)

Texture: bumpy rugged skin, chunky flesh

Moisture: a little juicy (dryer than garnet and hannah)

Taste: milder flavor but still sweet

Aroma: strong smell

To summarize, japanese was the most like a normal potato: buttery, starchy, and not very sweet.  Probably best for fries and mashed 'taters.  Garnet and hannah were pretty similar, being sweet, soft, and juicy, with hannah taking the lead for sweetness and juiciness.  Probably best for casseroles and baked goods.  Jewel had a milder taste.  My sister thought it was second sweetest but I thought it was third sweetest, so its ranking is undetermined.  It falls its texture falls somewhere in between japanese and garnet/hannah.  Definitely best for my mom's amazing roasted sweet potato fries!

As for the leftovers, mashed sweet potato is delicious with toast, yogurt, smoothies, oatmeal, baked goods, and even veggie dip!  Do you have a favorite variety?  Let me know in the comments, and what you like to use certain varieties for.

Toast with chicken salad below and toast with sweet potato and yogurt above

Citations
Bratskeir, Kate. “5 Special Kinds Of Sweet Potatoes, And How To Eat Them.” Huffpost, Verizon Media, 11 Nov. 2015, www.huffpost.com/entry/types-of-sweet-potatoes-to-eat_n_563bb2bde4b0411d30701b0d?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANrbYJYmyTfNITaGmoU17mfp2IgnrLYjcMZFcUxFKW84b_B48BnxX5y6VMfo1IVs7a6rJkwKmqnOrJZ7H7GZ_9V-r16bpMVFfgvhsd6j7RvAoguMz4V5s8hZZ6fl1jmqSL9u4DHPFL-GI8zs2neBTPPAUH8OOvsuIKEH-vfkd3Ux.

Ernest, Danielle. “The Different Types of Sweet Potatoes.” Diynetwork, Scripps Networks, LLC, www.diynetwork.com/how-to/outdoors/gardening/the-different-types-of-sweet-potatoes.