Candied sweet potatoes or yams sit at the intersection of all the foundational cultures of the South. The sweet potato originally comes from early Mesoamerica, and appeared in numerous colors. The varieties most common in the American South during slavery were white-fleshed sweet potatoes, which many enslaved people used in similar ways to West African yams, an entirely different species of tuber. By the 17th and 18th centuries, both tubers were staple parts of the African-Atlantic diet. The orange- and yellow-fleshed types, such as Beauregard, Georgia Jet, and Porto Rico, became more common after the Civil War, and beginning in the mid-20th century began being marketed as “yams.” Throughout their history, sweet potatoes have been cooked in sugar, originally in molten cane juice during sugar-making season. —Michael Twitty
VARIATION: In the South Carolina Lowcountry, it’s common to add about a cup of canned crushed pineapple to the potatoes before baking. If you choose to add it, omit the sugar.
