Purple Sweet Potato Smoothie

When I was living in Okinawa, Japan years ago, I would visit the farmers' market every weekend, eager to discover baskets full of unique tropical fruits and vegetables. It was always an exciting trip, and I loved trying and learning about new foods and traditional Okinawan and Japanese dishes. It was early during my time there that I learned about beni imo, ube, and the purple sweet potato (there are many different varieties all looking quite similar, though they vary in a multitude of ways - a topic deserving of a blog post all its own).

During a recent visit to Texas, I spotted a bag of purple sweet potatoes at an Asian market that brought back a flood of memories (the excitement, too) from the very markets where I learned about the varieties of purple-hued tubers and yams. So naturally, I felt compelled to bring a bag home with me on our cross-country trek back to Wisconsin. This smoothie is just one of the creations that came out of them. We also made purple sweet potato fries which were also tasty and so pretty.

If you are lucky enough to find any variety of purple sweet potato in your area, I encourage you to try and experiment with them if you haven't already - they are delicious and take any dessert to another level visually.

Refreshing, slightly sweet, and candy for the eyes, you’ll want to try this beautifully-hued spring treat, or a variation of sorts. For this smoothie, I used few ingredients, but you can certainly use as few or as many as you like to make it your own. I’ve made it a handful of ways, to include with a variety of fruits (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries) and they were all delicious. The smoothie pictured here (and I think my favorite pairing thus far), is with strawberries. You can obviously go for a purist’s approach and keep it strictly sweet potato, which is also lovely!