Sweet Potato or Yam?

Do you ever wonder if you are eating yams or sweet potatoes for holiday meals? They are known by both, but horticulturally there are differences. Officially a sweet potato is never a yam, but sweet potatoes are often referred to as yams. 

Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are yellow or orange tubers that elongate into ends that taper to a point. There are two types of sweet potatoes, which creates the confusion over yam versus sweet potato.  The paler-skinned sweet potato has a thin, light yellow skin with pale yellow flesh which is not sweet and has a dry, crumbly texture similar to a white baking potato. The darker-skinned variety (which is most often called "yam") has a thicker, dark orange to reddish skin with a vivid orange, sweet flesh and a moist texture.

 Most of us have probably never seen a true yam. The true yam is the tuber of a tropical vine (Dioscorea sp) and is not even distantly related to the sweet potato. The yam is a popular vegetable in Latin American and Caribbean markets, and is slowly being introduced here. The true yam is actually even sweeter than the sweet potato, and the tuber can grow over seven feet in length. The yam tuber has a brown or black skin which resembles the bark of a tree and off-white, purple or red flesh, depending on the variety.

Another root vegetable commonly used in Central America is called cassava or yuca (Manihot esculenta). It differs from the yucca plant we grow here. When we were in Costa Rica several years ago, the starchy cassava root was peeled and boiled like potatoes. I really liked eating yuca, especially when paired with beans and rice covered in Lizano Sauce. Interestingly enough, when yuca root is dried to a powdery (or pearly) extract it makes tapioca.

Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine

Here we grow a couple different types of sweet potato vines in Central Illinois. Ornamental sweet potato vines are popular for their ornamental value as ground covers, hanging baskets, in planters, and even in bottles of water in the kitchen. The ornamental vine’s tubers are edible but are reported to have a bland taste. 

Sweet Potato Vines in Garden

Culinary sweet potatoes are easy to grow in the summer garden using starter plants called slips. I particularly like baked sweet potatoes smothered in butter and brown sugar. I also use them as meat substitutes in tacos or covered in BBQ sauce for stir fry.

In the end it doesn’t really matter what you call it. Regardless of whether you call them yams or sweet potatoes, enjoy them often – they are a healthy and tasty choice for your kitchen table.

Woolly Bear Caterpillars and Weather Predictions

Have you noticed all the woolly bear caterpillars lately? While driving back from meetings recently, I noticed numerous woolly bear caterpillars crossing the roadway.

Photo by Mohammed El Damir, Bugwood.org

Woolly bear caterpillars are about 2 inches long and covered with stiff bristles. They are black with a broad band of red-brown bristles around the middle. These caterpillars are the larval stage of the isabella moth.

These caterpillars feed on mostly wild herbaceous plants such as lambsquarter. Although they seldom attack desirable plants, if they strip the weeds of foliage, they may move on to flowers and other landscape plants. Once they move onto desired plants, they usually are too large to be effectively controlled. In some cases, handpicking the larvae off of the plants may be an option, but in most cases trying to control these caterpillars this late in the season is not reasonable.

According to superstition, the amount of black on the woolly bear’s bristle coating forecasts the severity of the coming winter. It is the relative proportions of the black and reddish-brown portions of the caterpillar that are supposed to predict the winter. The longer the black segments on the ends of the caterpillar, the harsher the coming winter.

One of the problems with trying to forecast the winter using these insects is that the tiger moth has similar caterpillars as its larval stage. Unfortunately, there are about 260 species of the tiger moth and each species has a different color variation. Plus the caterpillars shed their skins or molt six times before reaching adult size, and their colors change with each molt.

According to Donald Lewis, Entomologist from Iowa State University, there is some year-to-year variation in the amount of black hair on these caterpillars, but the differences are caused by age and wetness. Older caterpillars have more black than young ones and caterpillars that fed and grew in an area where the fall weather was wetter have more black hair than caterpillars from dry areas.

So why do the woolly bears cross the road? No one really knows why, but they cross roads and paths on warm days in late fall. Some people even believe that this can predict the weather. If they are going south, it is going to be a harsh winter. If they are headed north, it will be a mild winter. I was driving east and west, so I don’t know what that means!

If you don’t believe woolly bears can predict the weather, you might instead want to look at pig spleens, groundhogs, hornets, persimmon seeds, or read what "The Old Farmer's Almanac" says. You can watch the weather forecasters using their high-tech equipment. Or, you can just wait and see what winter has in store for us. I suggest that you enjoy a beautiful fall day with a nice walk outside while you wait.

Plant Garlic This Fall

Do you use a lot of garlic in your cooking? If so you might try growing your own. Fall is the best time to plant garlic in your garden.

Garlic is a hardy bulb, and thus is best planted in the fall when other bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, are planted. October is the ideal time in this part of Illinois. With garlic, new plants are grown from the individual sections of the bulb known as "cloves." Each bulb may contain a dozen or more cloves, depending on the variety.

Now is the time to purchase garlic for planting. Be sure to buy it from a reliable garden center or mail-order source. Storage temperature of the dormant garlic affects the bulbing of the future plants. Temperatures above 77 degrees F may inhibit bulb formation, so using garlic from the grocery is ill-advised for planting purposes. Garlic that has been stored at about 40 degrees F for several months is ideal for starting a new planting.

After planting, the individual cloves will begin to root and sprout before cold weather begins. Plants will over winter in this vegetative state. In the first thaw of spring, the plants will begin their luxuriate growth.

Garlic grows best in fertile soil that is high in organic matter. Gardeners that grow good onion crops can grow good garlic. Apply 3 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet.

Fall planted garlic will begin forming bulbs the next June. Bulbs can be dug when the tops start to yellow, usually in July or August.

Garlic drying at Barefoot Gardens near Macomb, IL

Bulbs are placed in a dark, airy place with moderate temperature to cure and dry. Tops and roots are allowed to remain on the drying bulbs. Throughout the digging and storage operations, it should be remembered that the bulbs are living things that must be handled with care for best storage and quality. Any small bruise may cause the whole bulb to spoil in storage. Unless garlic is to be used for braiding, tops and roots should be removed once bulbs are cured and dry.

You can also grow garlic in the form of scallions. Topsets or small cloves are planted fairly thickly in a row and the green plants dug, cleaned, and bunched like green onions. The whole plant, tops and all, is then chopped into dishes for flavor.

If you like the taste of garlic, you might also try growing garlic chives. Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) is a perennial plant and grows very similar to chives with flat leaves like leek and garlic. The flavor is very much like garlic, and the tops are harvested like the regular chives. Garlic chive has white flowers and grows taller than regular chives.

Enjoy your garlic! Not only is it good to eat, it also keeps the vampires away.

Dry herbs for winter use

I recently harvested herbs from my garden. Herbs are an important staple in my kitchen. I add them to my evening tea or as added flavor to our meals. Here are some of my favorites.

Lemon balm is true to its name. This plant has a very strong lemon scent and provides a nice subtle lemon flavor. My plant grew about two foot tall this year. Since this is a tender perennial and will mostly likely not survive our winter, I typically harvest the entire plant. I add a couple leaves to many types of tea, including black and lavender.

Lavender is quickly becoming my favorite evening tea. I grow lots of lavender in my garden. The mild floral scent is heavenly and therapeutic. Studies have shown that just smelling lavender can reduce anxiety. Lavender is a perennial plant here and should survive a central Illinois winter. It does prefer a well-drained soil, however, and can die out in early spring if the roots stay wet too long. Since I’m leaving all my plants in my garden, I only harvest the flowers and longer shoots.

Mint is also a perennial plant, but it can be very invasive in a garden. I grow most of my plants in containers, placed where roots cannot escape into other parts of my yard. The opposite of lavender, mint is considered a “pick-me-up” herb. The slightly crusted whole leaves add zing to water, iced-tea, and mojitos. Spearmint is the traditional mint for use in mint juleps and mint tea.

Sage is a staple of my herb garden. I use it fresh and dried. Dried ground sage is a required ingredient in my meatloaf and turkey stuffing. I’ve been using the fresh leaves this summer to make a sage tea and a hair rinse. It tastes just like turkey stuffing and is surprisingly good. This is also a perennial plant that overwinters here. I cut a few leaves off the plants and leave the rest to overwinter. Sometimes I use sage leaves to make decorative wreaths. Once the leaves are dry, grind them in a mixer, food processor, or coffee grinder.

Stevia is a natural sweetener that is grown as an annual plant in our climate. Therefore, I usually harvest the entire plant. Once the leaves are dry, they are crushed to release stevia’s sweetening power. Homegrown stevia lacks the potency of refined white stevia extract available in grocery stores. Still, I find that my homegrown stevia sweetens my herbal teas just fine.

Be sure to cut and dry your herbs so that you can use them all winter. Good air circulation is the key to successfully drying herbs. Sometimes drying is easier if the leaves are stripped from the stems and dried on screens or in food dehydrators. This year I dried most of my herbs in a food dehydrator, but I also like to use mesh metal baskets, wicker baskets, paper towels, paper bags, and more. When dry, store the herbs in airtight container and use regularly. Be sure not to use any pesticides on herbs you harvest to eat.  

Below is a video I made a few years ago that demonstrates how I dry herbs. 

It’s Grape Pie Time!

I love the taste of Concord grapes. As a child, I remember eating grapes directly from the vines. To me, there is no flavor comparison between concord grapes and store-bought grapes. I especially like concord wine and concord grape pie!

Concord grapes grown in central Illinois are quite different from most store-bought grapes. Our native Concord and Niagara grapes are slip-skin types, which means that the skin easily slips away from the fruit pulp. Most store grapes are native to Europe and are called fixed skin varieties because the skin and pulp are all in one.

Here are some tips for harvesting the best grape. First, make sure your grapes are ripe before you harvest to assure that the grape is fully sweet.

A grape’s color change is not always the best indication of ripeness. Most berries change from green to blue, red or white (depending on the cultivar) as they approach maturity. Many grape cultivars turn a ripe color before their flavor fully sweetens. When fully ripe, the natural bloom or whitish coating on the berries will become more noticeable. The color of the seeds changes from green to brown.

Second, consider the size and firmness of the berry before harvest. It's helpful to be familiar with your cultivar's characteristics, but most grapes should become slightly less firm to the touch.

Finally, the best way to tell if a grape is ripe is to taste it. Unlike some other fruits, grapes do not ripen further once cut from the vine. So, be sure the grapes are ready before you harvest.

Grapes don't require direct sunlight on the fruits to ripen and develop good color. Rather, it is the amount of light that reaches the plant's leaves that determines the quality of the fruit. The leaves create the sugars that move into the fruit.

Once you've decided to harvest, you can store the grapes for about eight weeks. Refrigerators are a good place to store grapes. A crisper with a damp towel over the top of the fruit is ideal.

If you have an abundance of grapes, try making them into jellies, jams, juice, or wine. My family especially likes grape pie. Grape pie is time-consuming to make, but worth every bite! 

Here is my recipe from our Kinsel Family Favorites 2009 cookbook. 

My son Tyler helping make grape pie in 2000. 

My son Derek helping make grape pie in 2000.

The Incredible Edible Elderberry

I have always loved elderberries. As a kid there was an elderberry bush outside my bedroom window. I waited patiently each summer for the first berry clusters to ripen. I’d eat them right off the plant whenever I walked or mowed past the delicious, though tart, fruit.

Our native American elder (Sambucus canadensis) is commonly found along roadways, in ditches, and along woodlands. It grows very well in our dry, hot summers. This plant grows 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, and can be a bit scraggly unless kept under control. The 5 to 12 inch creamy white flowers in June and July are followed by tasty ¼ inch purple-black fruit in August and September.

Elderberries sucker and spread and therefore work best when used in naturalized landscapes. This versatile plant also works well in in shrub borders, roadside plantings, as a screen, in edible landscapes, to attract wildlife, or as part of a native plant garden.

Elderberry fruit is used in preserves, jellies, pies, and syrup. My mom made a delicious elderberry jam, which was amazing on her homemade biscuits. It also makes delightful drinks, including immunity tea, sparkling water, kombucha, wine, craft beer, and cordials. Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, and even Prince referred to elderberry wine in their songs.

Last weekend I harvested elderberries that grow on our property. A 5-gallon bucket of picked berries with stems yielded about 10 cups of berries. I made 4 cups into syrup and I dried 6 cups for use later in teas. The recipes are below. I only picked half the berries on my shrub, so next year I plan to pick elder-flowers too.

Finally, a word of caution that you might find this plant on some poisonous plant lists. Stick with eating only elder flowers and fruit because other parts, especially the roots, can be quite poisonous.  

Dried elderberries

Dry fresh elderberries in a dehydrator, oven, or in the sun. I used a dehydrator on medium-high setting for 10-12 hours, then placed them in a glass jar. (6 cups fresh berries produced 5 ounces dry berries. I’ve paid up to $20/pound for dry berries in the past.).

For tea, infuse (steep) 1 teaspoon of dried berries for 5 minutes. Add honey to taste. This is a great immunity builder.

Elderberry syrup (tonic)

4 cups berries (1:1 water to berry ratio for fresh and 2:1 for dried)

4 cups water

4 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

1 ½ cinnamon sticks

1 tablespoon whole cloves

1 cup honey (more if like it sweeter)

10 cups fresh elderberries produced
3 cups syrup and 1 pint dry berries. 

1.      Bring berries, water, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves to a boil on the stove. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes (longer if you want thicker syrup). Let cool.

2.      Strain the liquid from the berries using a sieve, colander, food mill, or other straining device. Press to get all the liquid out. If still not all liquid, do a final strain through cheese cloth.

3.      Add sweetener (raw honey, real maple syrup, sugar, or other).

Use as a pancake syrup or as a winter tonic to build immunity against flu, colds, and upper respiratory infections. I take 1-tablespoon 3 times a day, or alternate with an elderberry-echinacea tea.

Disclaimer: always discuss herbal supplements, including teas and tonics, with your doctor before using them. Research is inconclusive in the scientific community about many herbal supplements.

Growing Pinto Beans

This year I planted a three-sisters garden, which consist of sweet corn, climbing beans, and squash. I chose pinto and lima beans for my climbing beans, and they are doing very well.

Pinto beans are one of many different types of dry beans, including black, kidney, northern, and more. They are not commonly grown in the home garden but are very easy to grow.

I purchased mine from the Vermont Bean Seed Company. Their catalog lists the pinto bean as a 90-day, half-runner-type pole bean. The light green pods are lightly striped pink and quite pretty. They produce a medium sized bean that is light beige specked with brown. I planted mine on May 27, 2020.

I was able to harvest most of them on August 4^th. Since a half-runner-type bean is part bush and part pole bean, it produced pods closer to the ground. The new growth continued to climb upward on the corn plants in my three-sisters garden.

I harvested the bean pods that were completely dry, with dry beans inside. A small dishpan produced about a half pound of shelled beans. Since they were dry the beans came out of the pods very easily.

I was so excited about my first pinto bean harvest that I brought them right to the kitchen to cook. After cleaning, I boiled them about 10 minutes and let sit for an hour (in lieu of an overnight soak), then drained them. After adding 2-3” of water above the beans, the beans were boiled with a small white onion (also from my garden) and a bay leaf. After about an hour the beans were soft, but not broken.

They taste wonderful alone, but I plan to add barbecue flavor to make a sort of baked bean. I also really like pinto beans as vegetarian refried beans or as a bean dip that includes tomato, chives, and cilantro.

My first experience growing pinto beans was so successful that I plan to grow them again next year, in an even bigger three-sister garden!