Recipes

[mason dixon line]

Hello, does anyone have a recipe for sweet potato candy? I remember hearing an older lady at church talking to someone about being so poor as alittle girl that they had no money for candy so her Mother would make this. I would like to try. Thank you so very much.:

[Alajane]

Sorry if this is going off on a tangent, but my mother-in-law fit into that same category and this candy is what my husband grew up loving.  It's "potato candy" instead of sweet potato candy; wonder if it is what the older lady was thinking of?

[Alajane]

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/220888/peanut-butter-potato-candy/ 

[Blk&GoldFan]

Wow...this brings back childhood memories.  My mother would make the mashed potato peanut butter candy when we'd have leftover mashed potatoes.  A real treat.  I've never heard of the sweet potato candy recipe, though.

[Mothertrucker]

We used to get sweet potato candy, pumpkin candy and cactus candy at Olvera Street in LA.. Most of the local Mexican markets had it too..it was like chunks of sweet potato, ( or pumpkin or cactus) cooked in a sugar syrup till they were  nearly translucent...

i know it was so bad for me, but I loved it!

[Zhills]

Surprise Sweet Potato Candy

Source: Texas Country Reporter Cookbook

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup raw grated sweet potatoes
2 cups small marshmallows
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 2 cups chopped pecans

In a large saucepan combine sugar, margarine, and milk and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until mixture boils.

Add sweet potatoes. While stirring, continue to boil until mixture reaches soft-ball stage (235 degrees F on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and add marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs. Stir until marshmallows are melted and well blended.

Add vanilla extract and pecans, mixing well.

Pour into a buttered or wax-paper lined 9-inch square baking dish.

Cool completely before cutting into squares.

[Honeybit]

Talk about good memories -- as kids we learned to make Potato Candy in the 50's.  We never made it jelly-roll style, though, the peanut butter was mashed into the potatoes with the powdered sugar and then the candy was rolled into balls.  I've also seen it with coconut added and then dipped into chocolate coating.

A couple of years ago, I was at a Christmas potluck dinner and a Greek family from Florida brought Potato Candy.  Nobody else at the dinner had ever heard of it and most refused to believe it had potatoes in it!

I'll be it would be possible to make it with mashed sweet potatoes, too, by drying the potatoes out a little after cooking.  (We sometimes had to do that with regular mashed potatoes.)  I may give it a try during the holidays.