Sweet potato mania

This weekend we went sweet potato digging with Cutie's daycare. It's what every Japanese preschooler does in the autumn, and this is our 3rd year to participate in this annual event.
You can see here how small each lot is, with people's butts right in front us!





Look, Mommy, this is the biggest one I dug up! Cutie is wearing a Tigers baseball cap. That's Detroit, not Hanshin! Because we had a rainy summer this year, the potatoes were very small.



Crafty Mom on the right is demonstrating how to make a wreath with the sweet potato vines.



Crafty Mom wearing her third or fourth wreath on her head.







So this was all we got this year. Probably a little over a kilo. Two years ago, we probably got as twice as much from the same size area.
This is its pre-washed state.



This is after washing and scrubbing off all of the dirt (and with it, some of the skin) away. Following is what we made:


I sliced the small ones and soaked them in water. Cutie helped and changed the water about 3 times. He then put them out on paper towels to dry.




Great chips!






Imo youkan. This is mashed sweet potatoes that's set in kanten. Kanten is like gelatin, but it's made from seaweed, not cow's spine, (or whatever gelatin is made of.) They were not quite as good as the real thing, but pretty good nonetheless.
Daigaku imo. This is deep fried, then dressed in a sweet & salty soy sauce caramel, sprinkled with black sesame seeds.

I think I'm maxed out on sweet potatoes for this year!


P. S. Mom, the chips are all gone, but there's a lot of imo youkan and daigaku imo for you!