# Why Add Sugar to Sweet Potatoes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 26, 2020, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578 "2020-09-26T11:08:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/21 "2020-09-28T06:51:50Z")
I always disliked the sweetened ones, and hated the marshmallow kind, despite having a serious sweet tooth. As an adult, I make them roasted, baked, or microwaved, and I like them to be salty. If I have one baked or microwaved, I sometimes melt some Jarlsberg on top. I also like them as fries, either from restaurants or from frozen. Then I like them with salt, and vinegar or ketchup. I suspect I’m a nontaster, or in that realm, because I often can’t taste sugar or salt until some people around me think the food is overly sweet or salty. There’s desensitization, and there are also natural variations in taste sensitivity. > **[Life's Extremes: Supertaster vs. Nontaster](https://www.livescience.com/17190-supertaster-nontaster-tongue-evolution.html)** > > Our food preferences, and whether we're considered a supertaster or nontaster, are driven in large part by the anatomy of our tongues and our taste buds. In addition, evolution may have driven these d ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/22 "2020-09-28T14:41:14Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > … > I am surrounded by heretics! Assuming you enjoy Indian food at all, try it before you pronounce heresy. No, it isn’t your grandmother’s sickly sweet marshmallow dessert concoction. Thank goodness. Yes, it is flavorful, interesting, nicely harmonized, and nutritious. Unlike conventional pots, it doesn’t need gravy, ketchup, heavy salt, butter, sour cream, or any other only marginally healthy condiment to make it palatable. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/23 "2020-09-28T14:50:15Z")
OK, this thread can’t go on without a mini-lecture on how sweet potatoes aren’t really yams, most U.S.A. citizens have never tasted a real yam, and all cans labeled “Yams” in the U.S. are also labeled “cut sweet potatoes”. Also, each sweet potato thread must have someone like me post that sweet potatoes taste terrible with a gag reflex inducing flavor that cannot be rendered out of them, no matter how they are cooked! Very well, then- carry on with your misguided sweet potato fawning. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/24 "2020-09-28T14:55:57Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I mean, they’re _sweet_ potatoes. They are already naturally sweet. > > Maybe that’s why I didn’t care for them for so long - adding more sweet just makes them cloying to my taste. > > Is it just that American culture has so conditioned people to eat massive amounts of sugar that many can no longer taste the natural sweetness of sweet potatoes? > [@DesertDog](#): > > The would put sugar on their sliced tomatoes. It wasn’t until he moved away to California at age 17 he discovered he liked tomatoes after all. I have a similar theory and experience. I think that if they had a different name then people wouldn’t expect them to be sweeter than they actually are and then add sugar to them until they thought them worthy of the title. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I found out I don’t dislike sweet potatoes, just not that molassesy stuff of Thanksgiving infamy (and I thankfully never sampled any of the marshmallow monstrosity.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/25 "2020-09-28T16:06:25Z")
Pumpkin pie made with no sweetener of any kind but all the other traditional spices is also delicious. Either as a starch for the main course or as a more-savory-than-sweet dessert. It just doesn’t taste like the traditional sugared-unto-death Thanksgiving dessert pie we grew up with. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/26 "2020-09-28T16:55:38Z")
I bake sweet potatoes and eat them with butter, but I have no objection to some brown sugar. I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten the marshmallow. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/27 "2020-09-29T00:51:11Z")
I’m a philistine. I even like yams/sweet potatoes that have been microwaved. Most of them need at least a little butter. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/28 "2020-09-29T03:52:26Z")
As I posted, there are at least 16 types of sweet potatoes and they’re not all the same. Don’t put them all the same taste/texture pot! 😜 Depending on my mood, I’ll go with Satsuma, soft, very sweet or Okinawan, firm, but not flakey and barely sweet. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/29 "2020-09-29T15:59:14Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > here are at least 16 types of sweet potatoes Going by that article’s meaning of “types”, there are a lot more than that. They’re describing individual varieties/cultivars. Many people may only have access to a few in their usual marketplaces, however. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/30 "2020-09-29T16:30:08Z")
Yep. The store I work at only sells three varieties. Aldi’s only sells one, and same for many other smaller groceries. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/31 "2020-09-29T22:55:06Z")
I don’t get it, either. My wife loves sweet potatoes with the marshmallows on top. I’d really much prefer butter, or occasionally cinnamon butter. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/32 "2020-09-30T09:51:12Z")
Because adding the cinnamon without it gets that weird dry taste. In other words, I only add sugar if I’m also adding cinnamon. And then it’s sprinkled on top. Well, maybe I’d do brown sugar without cinnamon, since that molasses can have the same notes. Both give this “holiday sweets” feel to foods or drinks. Marshmallow just seems like the wrong pairing to me, BTW. It just doesn’t work. I didn’t know I liked sweet potatoes until restaurants started offering them as an alternative to a baked potato. > [@solost](#): > > My mom used to sprinkle sugar on strawberries, which I think are plenty sweet enough on their own. Interesting. I like a good, ripe strawberry without sweetener, but I wouldn’t characterize them as sweet. I characterize it as about as sweet as a supermarket tomato–i.e. not very, but that’s okay since the flavor is subtle and can be overpowered by sugar. BTW, has anyone actually tried adding sugar to those tomatoes? It’s weird. It actually tastes like some generic fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/33 "2020-09-30T11:04:27Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Interesting. I like a good, ripe strawberry without sweetener, but I wouldn’t characterize them as sweet. I characterize it as about as sweet as a supermarket tomato–i.e. not very, but that’s okay since the flavor is subtle and can be overpowered by sugar. If you’re talking about supermarket strawberries - well, they have the same issues as supermarket tomatoes. They’re bred towards being able to withstand storage and transport, followed by color and size. Flavor comes after all that. If you’ve had wild strawberries, or even just actually field-ripened domestic ones, they can be very sweet naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/34 "2020-09-30T11:42:47Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > ith butter, but I have no objection to some brown sugar. I don’t believe I’ve ever eaten the marshmallow. Yeah, I’m in the ‘butter and brown sugar’ camp. I don’t want the ‘ton of sugar with marshmallows on top’ effect, but I find that the brown sugar taste accentuates the flavor of the sweet potato. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/35 "2020-09-30T11:52:11Z")
The “why” has to do a lot with our culture, which dictates that we add sugar to just about everything … a LOT of sugar in many cases. I love a good carrot cake, but I never eat it because every piece I taste has enough sugar in it to gag a maggot. That’s probably explains a prediction I read that states half of this nation will be diagnosed diabetics by the middle of the century. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/36 "2020-09-30T15:37:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I like a good, ripe strawberry without sweetener, but I wouldn’t characterize them as sweet. I characterize it as about as sweet as a supermarket tomato A good strawberry is sweet, and has a complex strawberry flavor. Way to many of them are the equivalent of that supermarket tomato. IME, most modern supermarket strawberries have the flavor and texture of an unripe pear. They were bred for size and for shipping ability, and picked while still greentipped (unripe) again for shipping ability. Strawberries don’t ripen further after harvest. Unfortunately, even some people selling direct into local markets are growing those varieties and may be picking too early, because their customers have been conditioned to expect size and not flavor. I once had a customer utterly indignant at me because the strawberry she took as a trial was juicy; she got juice on her shirt, because she was expecting unripe fruit. (Scrolling down, I note that Broomstick also said some of this.) ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578/37 "2020-09-30T22:09:23Z")
I am friend to all varieties of sweet potato, be it roasted or candied or marshmallowed or fried or totted. I think if you cook a sweet potato in the microwave, a little sprinkle of brown sugar is nice. Not necessary, but nice. -shrug- But if you roast them for a decent length of time and let the natural sweetness get all toasty and caramelly, then they don’t need any added sugar at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-add-sugar-to-sweet-potatoes/921578.md?page=1)