Purple Potatoes

At the commissary last week, I spotted something I had to have -- a 1-pound bag of Okinawan sweet potatoes. The packaging proclaimed that these tiny sweet potatoes had purple flesh. I've had purple sweet potatoes at the Polynesian Cultural Center's luau and they were pretty good, so I snagged a bag to make alongside our meal of maple-garlic pork chops. The $1.64 the bag cost was pretty much worth the hilarious picture on the package -- a purple sweet potato dressed as a superhero. I peeled and boiled the potatoes, then served them with a gluttinous amount of butter. They were indeed purple and turned an even darker shade of violet after they were cooked.

The potatoes had a much thicker texture than typical sweet potatoes and a slightly different, less sweet flavor. I enjoyed the novelty of purple potatoes, but I didn't think they tasted as good as traditional orange sweet potatoes. However, I think serving both types together would make a good (and very colorful) side dish.