Unusual (to me!) Root Vegetables

[Lizzy_F]

Hi everyone! One of our newer grocers in town carries quite a variety of interesting items from a variety of cultures. They are one of only two grocers in town who carry Japanese Sweet Potatoes! I have been very curious about some of the other root vegetables on display. But I have no idea what they are or how I should prepare them. I'm hoping some of you here can give me guidance! Have you tried any of these / eat any of these on the regular? How do you prepare them? What do they taste like? Any "don't miss" roots here?

Root Yautia Lila
Name Yam (PLU 3276)
Root Malanga
Root Edd
Root Yucca
Root Boniato
Celery Root (which I have at least heard of, but have never cooked or eaten to my knowledge)

Any suggestions on what to try and how to prepare would be awesome! I'm feeling adventurous about roots!

[VeggieSue]

Our local Stop and Shop and some Shop Rites carry those veggies. The only one I've bought is the boniato, aka batata in smaller shops. To me, they look and taste exactly like the Japanese sweet potatoes. Sometimes they're so large they're the size of a kiddie football! I do have trouble baking them to perfection because of their size and many times after being in a 400ºF oven for over 2 hours they're still hard and I give up and pop them in the pressure cooker for another 15 minutes or more. They're so big sometimes I can only fit one in the 8qt IPot at a time!

Now and then when I cut into them the flesh has some dark spots, but I've been told online that this is natural and safe. I don't take chances and usually cut them out anyway.

The only other veg in that section of the produce department I've ever bought were the aloe leaves, but I don't eat them, I root them then plant in dirt for medicinal purposes. Aloe vera goo rubbed on a cut or burn works wonders.

[Lizzy_F]

Hi VeggieSue and thanks for sharing your experience with boniato. I love Japanese sweet potatoes so much, and sometimes when I go in hopes of buying some, there are none. So it's good to know that boniato are a bit similar. I'm going to give that one a try one day soon! Also it's great to know they also go by batata.

Thank goodness for the good old instant pot (or other pressure cooker) to finish things off when we run out of time or patience or both LOL!

[Bkworm]

Hello Lizzy_F,

Years ago I had a soup/stew I made using chicken broth. Have not made it since I started WFPB 11+ years ago. When I could find the boniato, I always purchased some and put it in the soup/stew. I would peel it and cut it into chunks like a potato. Did not really know much about it as a friend told me about it. It tends to oxidize and go dark very quickly when peeled. As Veggie Sue said its texture and taste is similar to Japanese Yams. Had not thought of it in years as it got harder and harder to find in my area. The pieces tended to get smaller and very dried out so I quit purchasing it. Have never seen it in very large pieces in our area but then I haven't looked for it in years. As I recall, the skin on the fresher pieces are a shade of red like Japanese Yams but tends to get darker as it dries out. Someone told me it is used in a lot of Spanish dishes so maybe can find it at a Spanish market which we don't have in my area.

Just looked up the recipe and it can easily be adapted to the WFPB way of cooking so must get to the stores to see if I can find any boniato. That is one dinner out of the way this weekend - if I can find the boniato.

Like you, I have heard of the celery root but never cooked it. We love Yuca Root but haven't used it in years either.

Enjoy your adventure of trying the various root veggies. You can research them on line to figure out how to prepare them. Lots of fun ahead.

[QubitBob]

Be very careful about using the Yucca root. More likely than not, this is actually a yuca root (one "c" in the name; the yucca plant with two "c's" is an ornamental plant not usually used for food). The yuca root is also known as cassava (see the Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassava ). You have to be careful about using yuca because it comes in bitter and non-bitter varieties, and the bitter variety can be toxic if not prepared properly because it contains cyanide. I stumbled upon this because there is a recipe in Lorna Sass's book, Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, which calls for some of these Central/South American root vegetables, and I researched them ahead of time like Lizzy_F is doing. I decided to cross Yuca/Cassava off my list because I did not want to have to worry about not preparing it properly and ending up poisoning myself or my family.