Japanese Food Culture

Sweet Potatoes (“Satsumaimo” in Japanese) and Chestnuts (“Kuri” in Japanese) are the idols in Japan’s fall.
Every convenience store and supermarket sells sweets and snacks of sweet potato or chestnuts flavors, and cooking show introduces recipes using sweet potatoes and chestnuts, emphasizing its sweetness.

Japanese sweet potatoes are slightly different from what is known as “sweet potatoes” overseas; it’s naturally sweet without any added sugar, tastes like a mix of roasted chestnut and pumpkin. We also have various types of sweet potatoes, and we choose based on their characteristics. “Beniharuka,” “Anno imo,” “Naruto kintoki,” and “Beniazuma” are the popular examples.

We have representative confectionary made of Japanese sweet potatoes, which is called “Sweet Potato.” So, if you say “Sweet Potato” in Japan, it means a confectionary and not sweet potato itself. We mix steamed sweet potatoes with sugar, butter, and milk, then shape it and bake it in the oven. Sweets that bring out the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes to the fullest.

Since Japanese sweet potatoes have strong sweetness, it is enough by only roasting them, and we call it “Ishi-yakiimo.”

Read more about "Ishi-yakiimo"

“Hoshiimo,” -dried sweet potatoes, are also popular and you can enjoy it through whole year. Not only does drying them bring out sweetness, but because it’s filling, it also makes for an effective preserved food.

For kindergarten or elementary school kids, sweet potato digging is popular event in fall. You go to neighbor farms and dig sweet potatoes. It’s fun because you never know how many potatoes you get until you pull out your vines.

Sweet potatoes have so many potentials and have loved by the Japanese for generations.

Look for sweet potato digging?