Candied Sweet Potatoes

History

"Candied Sweet Potatoes" is recorded in Martha McCulloch-Williams's "Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" (1913). Medium potatoes of even size are boiled until a fork will pierce them — "steaming is better though a bit more trouble" — thrown into cold water for a minute, peeled, and brushed over with soft butter. They are then laid separately in a wide skillet over an inch of very rich syrup and set over a slow fire, turned often so the syrup coats every side, and kept turning until candied.

The historical record does not document a specific earlier origin for this particular preparation.

"Dishes & Beverages of the Old South" is a mixture of recipes and plantation reminiscence. McCulloch-Williams was a white writer born near Clarksville, Tennessee, who grew up on a plantation before the Civil War, and the book's affection for that world goes unexamined in it: its dedication is "to our Mammys," and its opening holds that being "the best fed people in the world" let "we of the South Country... put up the best fight in history." Much of the cooking it records is the work of enslaved and formerly enslaved Black women the book does not name.

Ingredients

• medium sweet potatoes
• soft butter
• 1 inch very rich syrup
• lemon juice
• blade mace

Instructions

1. Boil medium potatoes of even size until a fork will pierce them. (Steaming is preferable though more laborious.) Plunge into cold water for a minute, then peel.
2. Brush the peeled potatoes over with soft butter. Lay them separately in a wide skillet with an inch of very rich syrup covering the bottom. Set over slow fire.
3. Turn the potatoes often in the syrup, letting it coat all sides. Keep turning them until they are candied and lightly browned.
4. If a very rich version is desired, add butter and lemon juice to the syrup when making it. Blade mace also flavors the syrup very well.